—California has the most homes at risk and the highest reconstruction cost value —
October 26, 2016 - According to new data released today by CoreLogic, 1.8 million single-family homes across 13 states in the western U.S. are currently designated as Extreme or High risk of wildfire damage, representing a combined total reconstruction cost value (RCV) of almost $500 billion. An additional 27 million properties, with an estimated RCV of $6.7 trillion, fall into the Moderate or Low risk category.
The CoreLogic Wildfire Risk analysis designates risk levels as Extreme, High, Moderate and Low based on a numeric risk score ranging from 1 to 100 assigned to individual properties. This score indicates the level of susceptibility to wildfire, as well as the risk associated with the property being located in close proximity to adjacent high-risk properties or areas. This proximity designation is important since wildfire can easily expand to surrounding properties and cause significant damage even if the original property was not considered high risk.
Table 1: Residential Wildfire Risk for the Western U.S.
| Wildfire Risk Level | Wildfire Risk Score (1-100) | Total Properties | Total Estimated Reconstruction Value |
| Extreme | 81-100 | 893,333 | $218,758,051,071 |
| High | 61-80 | 919,392 | $281,041,584,567 |
| Moderate | 51-60 | 367,629 | $106,630,098,370 |
| Low | 1-50 | 26,745,212 | $6,627,236,644,663 |
| Total | 28,925,566 | $7,233,666,378,671 |
At the state level, California and Texas rank first and second for the total number of homes in the Extreme wildfire risk category due to a large number of residential properties in these states combined with the proximity of high-risk vegetation and terrain. Combining both the High and Extreme categories, California tops the list with 645,445 properties at risk, followed by Texas (532,317) and Colorado (195,601). Table 3 shows that California also has the highest RCV in each of the top two risk levels at more than $250 billion, followed by Texas and Colorado at almost $94 billion and $54 billion, respectively.
Table 2: Residential Wildfire Risk by State
| State | Extreme Risk (81-100) | High Risk (61-80) | Moderate Risk (51-60) | Low Risk (1-50) | Total |
| CA | 263,152 | 382,293 | 136,913 | 8,322,108 | 9,104,466 |
| TX | 261,595 | 270,722 | 114,337 | 7,088,343 | 7,734,997 |
| WA | 18,323 | 14,272 | 7,891 | 2,255,954 | 2,296,440 |
| AZ | 26,782 | 28,882 | 11,375 | 2,023,488 | 2,090,527 |
| CO | 117,832 | 77,769 | 32,657 | 1,555,289 | 1,783,547 |
| OR | 80,261 | 50,413 | 22,977 | 1,139,502 | 1,293,153 |
| OK | 152 | 382 | 259 | 1,251,283 | 1,252,076 |
| NV | 6,325 | 7,556 | 1,249 | 876,382 | 891,512 |
| UT | 3,950 | 12,910 | 8,912 | 727,056 | 752,828 |
| NM | 38,911 | 24,318 | 8,453 | 540,335 | 612,017 |
| ID | 41,230 | 26,647 | 10,795 | 500,028 | 578,700 |
| MT | 29,902 | 21,079 | 10,182 | 274,441 | 335,604 |
| WY | 4,918 | 2,149 | 1,629 | 191,003 | 199,699 |
Table 3: Total Potential Reconstruction Cost Value from Wildfire Damage
| State | Extreme Risk (81-100) | High Risk (61-80) | Moderate Risk (51-60) | Low Risk (1-50) | Total |
| CA | $90,261,926,369 | $163,419,491,775 | $56,195,773,817 | $2,835,909,802,454 | $3,145,786,994,415 |
| TX | $41,439,955,631 | $52,423,286,410 | $22,901,200,812 | $1,357,724,967,788 | $1,474,489,410,641 |
| WA | $3,920,761,193 | $3,162,198,598 | $1,704,136,494 | $544,593,138,874 | $553,380,235,159 |
| CO | $32,652,822,276 | $21,568,699,324 | $8,739,871,411 | $360,918,038,781 | $423,879,431,792 |
| AZ | $4,960,333,908 | $5,492,929,057 | $2,087,493,320 | $375,574,787,244 | $388,115,543,529 |
| OR | $16,123,418,127 | $10,734,344,793 | $4,764,234,407 | $247,256,829,757 | $278,878,827,084 |
| NV | $2,849,501,119 | $3,393,079,994 | $383,812,551 | $223,751,993,091 | $230,378,386,755 |
| OK | $25,285,117 | $61,827,146 | $39,547,502 | $220,623,957,106 | $220,750,616,871 |
| UT | $1,198,543,055 | $4,313,715,812 | $2,958,129,586 | $163,055,827,123 | $171,526,215,576 |
| ID | $9,663,737,893 | $5,772,218,483 | $2,415,315,545 | $103,350,310,521 | $121,201,582,442 |
| NM | $9,160,165,154 | $5,537,242,318 | $1,853,408,250 | $103,812,378,714 | $120,363,194,436 |
| MT | $6,552,904,199 | $4,726,240,224 | $2,263,044,015 | $54,701,842,363 | $68,244,030,801 |
| WY | $948,697,040 | $436,310,633 | $324,130,660 | $35,962,770,847 | $37,671,909,180 |
Of the 258 Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSA) that were analyzed based on wildfire risk, Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif. ranks first for the most number of homes at Extreme risk with 51,775 properties falling into this category, followed by Sacramento-Roseville-Arden-Arcade, Calif. (41,937) and Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, Colo. (33,226). In terms of RCV, Sacramento-Roseville-Arden-Arcade, Calif. edges out Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif. by almost 1 million dollars at $16.4 billion compared with more than $15.3 billion.
