Yolo, CA
How exposed is Yolo to wildfire?
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Yolo at the 59th national percentile for risk to structures, modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a score built from 238 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Yolo at the 57th national percentile — 2 points below its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Yolo's buildings actually sit
Most of Yolo's buildings (82.4%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
How Yolo compares
Yolo ranks lower within California (17th percentile statewide) than its 59th national percentile suggests alone — a calmer spot in a state where wildfire risk generally runs high. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Yolo ranks 13,072 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 23,520 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 1,312 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
Because Yolo is in California, a wildfire-hazard disclosure is legally required before a sale closes here — unusual nationally, since only these two states mandate it. The state's FAIR Plan alone carried 668,609 policies by the end of 2025. Full detail in the disclosure-law guide.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Yolo (82.4% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 238 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Yolo. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Yolo, see the exposure-zones guide.