Nearly 500,000 California Homes at High or Very High Fire Risk
- Riverside area has most at-risk properties, Zillow study shows
- Housing costs have pushed developers into state’s wooded areas
A neighborhood destroyed by the Camp Fire in Paradise, California in 2018.
Photographer: Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Almost a half-million California homes worth an estimated $268 billion are at a high or very high risk for wildfire damage this year, according to an analysis by Zillow.
The 477,039 properties flagged by the U.S. Forest Service make up less than 5% of the total homes in the state and have an average value of $550,000. Zillow also analyzed the wildfire risk to homes in four major metropolitan areas in California: Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego and Sacramento. Riverside has the most at-risk homes. Los Angeles at-risk homes have the highest average value, at more than $1 million.