Tamalpais-Homestead Valley, CA
Tamalpais-Homestead Valley wildfire risk explained
Tamalpais-Homestead Valley sits at the 84th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 4,757 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Tamalpais-Homestead Valley at the 84th percentile, close to its 84th-percentile risk score.
Where Tamalpais-Homestead Valley's buildings actually sit
USFS puts 71% of Tamalpais-Homestead Valley's 4,757 buildings in the Indirect exposure zone, versus 29% Direct and 0% Minimal — a place where the fire doesn't need to reach the structure directly for embers to.
How Tamalpais-Homestead Valley compares
Tamalpais-Homestead Valley ranks lower within California (46th percentile statewide) than its 84th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Tamalpais-Homestead Valley ranks 5,196 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 3,587 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 849 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Tamalpais-Homestead Valley sits in California, one of two states that legally require a wildfire-risk disclosure at sale. California's FAIR Plan, the state's insurer of last resort, ended 2025 with 668,609 residential policies after adding 21,859 in Q4 alone — the kind of market shift a 84th-percentile score like Tamalpais-Homestead Valley's can end up mattering for. More on the disclosure law.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Tamalpais-Homestead Valley's 71% Indirect-exposure share points at embers, not flame contact, as the main pathway — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing rank ahead of defensible space here. Detail in the home-hardening guide.
Where Tamalpais-Homestead Valley's figures come from
Every one of the two percentiles behind Tamalpais-Homestead Valley's 5,196-place national rank traces to USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities dataset — see the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Tamalpais-Homestead Valley's dominant indirect exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.