West Carson, CA
West Carson wildfire risk explained
West Carson's 6,839 buildings earn a 39th-percentile wildfire-risk score nationally under USFS's model — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, West Carson's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 47th percentile nationally.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
Only 0% of West Carson's 6,839 buildings carry Direct exposure and 0% carry Indirect; the remaining 100% are Minimal, which shifts the risk driving this page's score toward the surrounding landscape rather than any one structure. At 6,839 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
Where West Carson ranks
Inside California, West Carson sits at just the 6th percentile even though it scores 39th nationally — the state's overall wildfire exposure is high enough to make this a relatively quiet corner of it. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, West Carson ranks 19,090 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 2,533 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,482 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
West Carson and the insurance market
West Carson's 39th-percentile score lands in California, the only two states requiring a wildfire disclosure at sale. California's surplus-lines homeowners market passed 300,000 policies for the first time in 2025, driven by carriers pulling back from wildfire-exposed areas statewide. The disclosure-law guide covers what it requires.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
Even with 100% of West Carson outside USFS's Direct and Indirect zones, basic hardening — gutter maintenance, ember-resistant vents — is inexpensive relative to the regional burn-probability risk noted above. Details in the home-hardening guide.
Where West Carson's figures come from
West Carson's 39th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what West Carson's dominant minimal exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.