Almost Half a Million California Homes at Risk From Wildfires

Nearly half a million homes in California risk being in the path of wildfires, according to an analysis that combines U.S. Forest Service data with Zillow housing data. The Forest Service risk map specifically depicts the potential for wildfires that would be difficult to contain.

In California, there are 477,039 homes worth $268.2 billion in areas deemed to have "high" and "very high" wildfire hazard potential. The average value of those homes is more than $550,000, including the land.

Zooming into the metro level, Zillow analyzed the wildfire risk to homes in four areas: Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego and Sacramento. 

Among those four, Riverside has the most at-risk homes — 113,520 — while the homes at risk in the Los Angeles area have by far the highest average value at more than $1 million.

Federal officials have warned that this year's fire season could be worse than in 2018, when more than 80 people were killed and tens of thousands of structures were burned. The cost of wildfires in 2018 alone was more than $24 billion.

Metro area	Homes in very high risk areas	Home in high risk areas	Value of homes in very high risk areas	Value of homes in high risk areas	% homes in very high risk areas	% homes in high risk areas
Sacramento	11,306	43,652	$5.2 billion	$21.9 billion	1.7%	6.5%
Riverside	26,254	87,266	$9.2 billion	$31.4 billion	2.1%	7.1%
Los Angeles	6,765	20,974	$9.2 billion	$21.7 billion	0.2%	0.8%
San Diego	8,472	33,267	$5 billion	$22.1 billon	1.0%	4.1%
California	134,428	342,611	$76.7 billion	$191.5 billion	1.4%	3.5%

 

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via Almost Half a Million California Homes at Risk From Wildfires