28 FEMA areas

Wildfire Risk by City in California

Compare 111 cities using FEMA's relative wildfire scores and annualized frequency for the county-equivalent areas shown.

Highest relative score

100.0/100

San Diego County

Covered cities: Carlsbad, Chula Vista, El Cajon, Escondido, Oceanside, San Diego, San Marcos, and Vista

Lowest relative score in this set

26.4/100

San Francisco County

Covered cities: San Francisco

These are relative FEMA scores for county-equivalent areas. They are not annual probabilities or property-level findings.

California wildfire rankings

Cities sharing a FEMA area are grouped together and receive the same score.

Rank	FEMA area and cities	Rating	Score	Annualized frequency
#1	San Diego County Carlsbad Chula Vista El Cajon Escondido Oceanside San Diego San Marcos Vista	Very High	100.0/100	0.027 per year
#2	Riverside County Corona Hemet Indio Jurupa Valley Menifee Moreno Valley Murrieta Riverside Temecula	Very High	100.0/100	0.024 per year
#3	San Bernardino County Chino Fontana Hesperia Ontario Rancho Cucamonga Rialto San Bernardino Victorville	Very High	99.9/100	0.010 per year
#4	Los Angeles County Burbank Carson Compton Downey East Los Angeles El Monte Glendale Hawthorne Inglewood Lancaster Long Beach Los Angeles Norwalk Palmdale Pasadena Pomona Santa Clarita Santa Monica South Gate Torrance West Covina Whittier	Very High	99.9/100	0.008 per year
#5	Ventura County Oxnard San Buenaventura Simi Valley Thousand Oaks	Relatively High	99.8/100	0.013 per year
#6	Orange County Anaheim Buena Park Costa Mesa Fullerton Garden Grove Huntington Beach Irvine Lake Forest Mission Viejo Newport Beach Orange Santa Ana Westminster	Relatively High	99.8/100	0.015 per year
#7	Kern County Bakersfield	Relatively High	99.7/100	0.007 per year
#8	Madera County Madera	Relatively High	99.6/100	0.008 per year
#9	Santa Barbara County Santa Barbara Santa Maria	Relatively High	99.5/100	0.008 per year
#10	Shasta County Redding	Relatively High	99.1/100	0.007 per year
#11	Butte County Chico	Relatively High	98.8/100	0.006 per year
#12	Sonoma County Santa Rosa	Relatively High	98.8/100	0.004 per year
#13	Fresno County Clovis Fresno	Relatively High	98.3/100	0.005 per year
#14	Placer County Roseville	Relatively High	98.1/100	0.004 per year
#15	Santa Cruz County Santa Cruz	Relatively High	97.7/100	0.005 per year
#16	Tulare County Visalia	Relatively High	97.6/100	0.005 per year
#17	Monterey County Salinas Seaside	Relatively High	97.5/100	0.005 per year
#18	Santa Clara County Gilroy Mountain View San Jose Santa Clara Sunnyvale	Relatively High	96.9/100	0.005 per year
#19	Alameda County Berkeley Fremont Hayward Livermore Oakland San Leandro	Relatively Moderate	96.2/100	0.004 per year
#20	Contra Costa County Antioch Concord Richmond San Ramon	Relatively Moderate	95.9/100	0.003 per year
#21	Stanislaus County Modesto	Relatively Moderate	94.5/100	0.008 per year
#22	Sacramento County Arden-Arcade Citrus Heights Elk Grove Folsom Sacramento	Relatively Moderate	93.0/100	0.003 per year
#23	San Mateo County Daly City Redwood City San Mateo	Relatively Moderate	91.8/100	0.002 per year
#24	Merced County Merced	Relatively Moderate	89.1/100	0.006 per year
#25	Solano County Fairfield Vacaville Vallejo	Relatively Moderate	88.1/100	0.002 per year
#26	San Joaquin County Manteca Stockton Tracy	Relatively Low	85.3/100	0.003 per year
#27	Sutter County Yuba City	Relatively Low	66.7/100	0.002 per year
#28	San Francisco County San Francisco	Very Low	26.4/100	0.000 per year

Occurrence thresholds vary by hazard. The FEMA methodology defines the value for each hazard.

Preparing for wildfire

Ready.gov Be Informed ↗

For a home or move

✓Confirm the exact hazard using official local maps before making property or insurance decisions.
✓Review policy exclusions, deductibles, and temporary-living coverage with a licensed professional.
✓Keep inspections, inventories, and critical documents in a secure location you can access after an emergency.

For a household plan

✓Know how local officials issue warnings and evacuation instructions.
✓Maintain water, food, lighting, medications, and communications for several days.
✓Create a household communication plan and practice it before an emergency.

Questions about wildfire risk in California

Which covered California cities have the highest relative wildfire risk?

Carlsbad, Chula Vista, El Cajon, Escondido, Oceanside, San Diego, San Marcos, and Vista use FEMA data for San Diego County, which has the highest relative wildfire score in this covered set at 100.0/100. Cities sharing the same FEMA area share the same score.

Which covered California area has the lowest relative wildfire score?

San Francisco County has the lowest score in this covered set at 26.4/100. This is a relative FEMA comparison, not a declaration that every property there is safe.

Are these wildfire figures city-level?

No. The city links provide geographic navigation, while the scores and frequencies cover the FEMA county-equivalent areas shown in the table. Address-level conditions require local maps and property details.

Is the FEMA relative score an annual probability?

No. The relative score compares FEMA areas on a 0–100 scale. Annualized frequency appears separately with hazard-specific units.

Related state and hazard pages

California Earthquake

Source: FEMA National Risk Index v1.19.0, released March 2023. Hazard data covers FEMA county-equivalent areas.

FEMA source ↗Our methodology →