{
  "title": "Wildfire Risk in San Mateo County, CA 2026 | Satelife",
  "description": "Across the places we scored in San Mateo County, overall wildfire risk runs from 5.0 to 70.0, with a middle value of 20.4.",
  "image": "https://satelife.ai/images/wildfire-risk/san-mateo-county/generated/san-mateo-county-locator.webp",
  "canonical": "https://satelife.ai/wildfire-risk/california/san-mateo-county/",
  "content": "[Home](/)›[Wildfire Risk](/wildfire-risk/)›[California](/wildfire-risk/california/)›San Mateo County\n\nSan Mateo County, California\n\n# Wildfire risk in San Mateo County: _where it is highest_, and why\n\nAcross the places we scored in San Mateo County, overall wildfire risk runs from 5.0 to 70.0, with a middle value of 20.4.\n\n[Score my San Mateo County address →](#score-my-address) [How risky is this county? ↓](#risk-at-a-glance)\n\nBefore 20002000s2010s2020sCommunity\n\nSan Mateo County — the largest fires on record, at their perimeter centres, with the county’s main communities. Select a marker for its detail.\n\nAt a glance\n\n## Half of San Mateo County scores _Low_ or worse\n\nWe scored 178 points across San Mateo County on the same 0–100 scale a Satelife address report uses, and they do not land in one place. 30% of them come out High, while 53% are Low. Which end your own parcel sits at is not something a county map can tell you.\n\n30%\n\n16%\n\n53%\n\n**High** 30% · 54 of 178 points **Moderate** 16% · 29 of 178 points **Low** 53% · 95 of 178 points\n\nSafest end we measured 5 near Pescadero · Low\n\nMiddle of the county 20.4 Low — half of San Mateo County is above this\n\nMost exposed end we measured 70 near Pescadero · High\n\n### And the federal models agree it is a fire county\n\nRelatively Moderate FEMA National Risk Index — wildfire risk rating · index score 92 / 100\n\n$2.2M / yr FEMA NRI — expected annual loss from wildfire · rated Relatively Moderate\n\n0.17% USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities — mean annual burn probability · 90th-percentile cell 0.36%\n\n1.94 ft USFS WRC — mean conditional flame length · 44% of the county carries burnable fuel\n\nFEMA NRI also rates San Mateo County: all-hazards risk Relatively High · social vulnerability Relatively Low · community resilience Very High · annualised wildfire frequency 0.0016.\n\nSources: FEMA National Risk Index 1.20.0 (Dec 2025), county record · USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities v2.0, mean of the grid cells inside the county. Both describe the county as a whole, never an address in it.\n\nWhat does your San Mateo County address score?\n\nA county range shows the spread. Your parcel sits somewhere inside it — the report says where, and what to do about it.\n\nFree to request · PDF report with a 0–100 score, the drivers behind it, and a mitigation plan\n\nLocal context\n\n## What the data says about _San Mateo County_\n\nMost scored locations fall in the Low tier (95 points), followed by High (54) and Moderate (29). No scored points fall in the Very High tier.\n\nFEMA’s National Risk Index rates the county’s wildfire risk as Relatively Moderate, and its expected annual wildfire loss from wildfire as Relatively Moderate.\n\nFire record\n\n## Where the fires _actually were_\n\nSince 1984, 2,063 acres have burned in San Mateo County across 28 mapped fire perimeters. That equals 0.4% of the county.\n\nThe largest fire named in the county summary is Cloverdale Vmp (2010), at 404 acres, and it is marked as outside the county. The most recent large fire named for the county is Whipple (2023).\n\nOlder records also include Lincoln Hill (1962), a 3,236-acre fire marked as partly in the county.\n\n28 mapped fire perimeters centred in the county since 1984\n\n2,063 acres inside those perimeters since 1984\n\n0.4% of the county's area, as a share of 1,909.8 km²\n\nWhipple 2023 most recent large fire on record\n\nBefore 20002000s2010s2020s \n\nFire perimeters coloured by decade. Select a perimeter for its name, year and size.\n\nNamed fires on record\n\n-   **Lincoln Hill Fire**19623,236 acres in totalcrossed into the county\n-   **Crocker Estate #16 Fire**19641,544 acres\n-   **Leib Fire**19621,328 acres\n-   **Cloverdale Vmp Fire**2010404 acres\n-   **highlands fuel reduction Fire**2015290 acres\n-   **Crocker #6 Fire**1962370 acres\n-   **Quarry Fire**2008211 acres\n-   **2017 Broadcast Burn Fire**2017128 acres\n\nPerimeter sources: NIFC Interagency Fire Perimeter History · largest on record: Cloverdale Vmp 2010. Perimeters are simplified for display; acreage is the figure the source records.\n\nCommunities\n\n## Where in the county you are _matters most_\n\nAmong larger cities, South San Francisco has a higher typical overall score (24.5) than San Mateo (16.7) and Daly City (13.4).\n\nOn the coast and in the hills, several smaller communities score higher, including El Granada (55.6), La Honda (52.6), and Pescadero (41.1).\n\nSome nearby places are much lower, such as Moss Beach at 5.0 and Brisbane at 6.7. That local contrast is important when comparing specific homes.\n\nWoodside village · 5,509 people\n\n57.9 _High_\n\nEl Granada village\n\n55.6 _High_\n\nMillbrae town · 21,536 people\n\n55 _High_\n\nPortola Valley village · 4,353 people\n\n55 _High_\n\nLa Honda village\n\n52.6 _High_\n\nHalf Moon Bay town · 12,308 people\n\n50 _High_\n\nHillsborough town · 10,825 people\n\n44.8 _Moderate_\n\nPescadero village\n\n41.1 _Moderate_\n\nLadera village\n\n32.8 _Moderate_\n\nMontara village\n\n28 _Moderate_\n\n18 more communities in San Mateo County\n\nBelmont town · 25,835 people\n\n27.6 _Moderate_\n\nPacifica town · 37,327 people\n\n27.5 _Moderate_\n\nSouth San Francisco city · 63,632 people\n\n24.5 _Low_\n\nNorth Fair Oaks town · 14,687 people\n\n23.8 _Low_\n\nColma village · 1,507 people\n\n20.5 _Low_\n\nRedwood City city · 88,314 people\n\n18.9 _Low_\n\nSan Carlos town · 27,002 people\n\n18.9 _Low_\n\nSan Mateo city · 103,536 people\n\n16.7 _Low_\n\nSan Bruno town · 41,114 people\n\n16.7 _Low_\n\nMenlo Park town · 33,780 people\n\n14.6 _Low_\n\nDaly City city · 101,005 people\n\n13.4 _Low_\n\nAtherton town · 6,914 people\n\n13.4 _Low_\n\nEast Palo Alto town · 32,784 people\n\n11.7 _Low_\n\nBroadmoor village · 4,176 people\n\n11.7 _Low_\n\nFoster City town · 30,567 people\n\n6.7 _Low_\n\nBurlingame town · 27,573 people\n\n6.7 _Low_\n\nBrisbane town · 4,282 people\n\n6.7 _Low_\n\nMoss Beach village\n\n5 _Low_\n\nThe score is the median of the sampled points nearest that community — a community-scale indicator, not a score for any individual property in it. Population comes from the community's own record where the source carries one.\n\nTerrain & fuels\n\n## Terrain, vegetation and _fuels_\n\nFire weather was not measured at all in this county.\n\nTerrain scores are higher around La Honda, where the highest scored terrain value is 65.0, and lower near Pescadero at 5.0.\n\nVegetation and fuels also vary sharply: the highest scored value is 80.0 in Pescadero, while the lowest is 5.0 near Pescadero. Those differences are associated with the county’s place-to-place wildfire risk variation.\n\n20 median terrain score (max 65 near La Honda)\n\n20 median vegetation & fuels score (max 80 near Pescadero)\n\nFire weather\n\n## Fire weather across _San Mateo County_\n\nFire weather was not measured at the sampled points in San Mateo County. The other four indicators on this page were, and the bars below show what they found.\n\nWhat drives it\n\n## Which part of the risk _moves_, and which doesn't\n\nWildfire risk is not uniform across San Mateo County. In Pescadero, the overall score ranges from 5.0 up to 70.0 in the places we scored.\n\nAt the community level, higher typical scores appear in Woodside (57.9), Portola Valley (55.0), and Half Moon Bay (50.0).\n\nLower typical scores appear in Foster City and Burlingame (both 6.7), with East Palo Alto at 11.7.\n\nEach bar is what one part of the score covers across San Mateo County, on the same 0–100 scale. A long bar is a part of the risk that depends on where you are; a short one is the same almost everywhere.\n\nTerrain\n\n5–65 highest near La Honda\n\nVegetation & fuels\n\n5–80 highest near Pescadero\n\nHazard zone\n\n10–90 highest near Pescadero\n\nFire history\n\n5–80 highest near Pescadero\n\nOverall score\n\n5–70 highest near Pescadero\n\nThe tick on each bar is the middle value. Tier boundaries — Moderate at 25, High at 50, Very High at 75 — are the faint lines behind them.\n\nShow every number behind these bars\n\nLayer\n\nMin\n\nMedian\n\nMax\n\nLowest place\n\nHighest place\n\nPoints\n\nTerrain\n\n5\n\n20\n\n65\n\nPescadero\n\nLa Honda\n\n178\n\nVegetation & fuels\n\n5\n\n20\n\n80\n\nnear Pescadero\n\nPescadero\n\n178\n\nHazard zone\n\n10\n\n10\n\n90\n\nnear Pescadero\n\nPescadero\n\n178\n\nFire history\n\n5\n\n5\n\n80\n\nnear Pescadero\n\nPescadero\n\n178\n\nComposite\n\n5\n\n20.4\n\n70\n\nPescadero\n\nPescadero\n\n178\n\nIndependently of Satelife's layers, the USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities grid puts the county's mean annual burn probability at **0.17%** (90th percentile cell: **0.36%**), with a mean conditional flame length of **1.94 ft**. **44%** of the 23,374 grid cells inside the county carry burnable fuel at all.\n\nSource: USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities v2.0 (ImageServer, county extent).\n\nCAL FIRE has no mapped Fire Hazard Severity Zone at **42** of the 178 sampled points — the zones cover Local Responsibility Areas. The USFS grid could not read any of them either, so the hazard weight is renormalised away rather than scored as low.\n\n178 sample points on a ~2.3 km grid, plus one at the centre of each community, weighted with the Satelife county profile v1 · median layer coverage 90%. Scores are 0–100 and comparable within the county, not across states.\n\nFor a property\n\n## What a county range means for _one address_\n\nHazard-zone scores are mostly low in the places we scored, with a middle value of 10.0. The highest scored hazard-zone value reaches 90.0 in Pescadero.\n\nFire-history scores are also low in many locations (middle value 5.0), but they climb to 80.0 in Pescadero.\n\nA separate countywide model from the U.S. Forest Service reports mean annual burn probability of 0.17% and a 90th-percentile cell value of 0.36%. It also shows 44.2% of the county in areas that can burn.\n\nFEMA’s National Risk Index rates San Mateo County’s wildfire risk as Relatively Moderate and expected annual wildfire loss as Relatively Moderate. In that same index, all-hazards risk is Relatively High, social vulnerability is Relatively Low, and community resilience is Very High.\n\nAcross 178 sampled points in San Mateo County, the score runs from 5 to 70 — two neighbouring parcels can sit in different tiers. A county number is the middle of that spread; it says nothing about which end yours is at.\n\nFind out where your San Mateo County parcel sits\n\nSlope, the fuel touching the structure, the road out, the fire history within a mile — measured at your address, not averaged across the county.\n\nFree to request · PDF report with a 0–100 score, the drivers behind it, and a mitigation plan\n\nCoverage\n\n## ZIP codes we cover in San Mateo County\n\nEvery one of the 42 ZIP areas that touch San Mateo County — we run address-level reports in all of them. They are grouped by the median score of the points we sampled inside each, which is a neighbourhood-scale indicator and **not** a score for any property: two homes in the same ZIP routinely land in different tiers.\n\n**High** 6 ZIPs\n\n-   [94062 Woodside58](/wildfire-risk/zip/94062/)\n-   [94060 Pescadero58](/wildfire-risk/zip/94060/)\n-   [94019 Half Moon Bay57](/wildfire-risk/zip/94019/)\n-   [94044 Pacifica53](/wildfire-risk/zip/94044/)\n-   [94020 La Honda52](/wildfire-risk/zip/94020/)\n-   [94021 La Honda51](/wildfire-risk/zip/94021/)\n\n**Moderate** 6 ZIPs\n\n-   [94074 La Honda50](/wildfire-risk/zip/94074/)\n-   [94037 Montara48](/wildfire-risk/zip/94037/)\n-   [94018 El Granada33](/wildfire-risk/zip/94018/)\n-   [94028 Portola Valley33](/wildfire-risk/zip/94028/)\n-   [94038 Moss Beach27](/wildfire-risk/zip/94038/)\n-   [94002 Belmont27](/wildfire-risk/zip/94002/)\n\n**Low** 17 ZIPs\n\n-   [94080 South San Francisco25](/wildfire-risk/zip/94080/)\n-   [94005 Brisbane24](/wildfire-risk/zip/94005/)\n-   [94010 Hillsborough23](/wildfire-risk/zip/94010/)\n-   [94063 North Fair Oaks23](/wildfire-risk/zip/94063/)\n-   [94061 Redwood City19](/wildfire-risk/zip/94061/)\n-   [94070 San Carlos19](/wildfire-risk/zip/94070/)\n-   [94403 Belmont19](/wildfire-risk/zip/94403/)\n-   [94014 Colma17](/wildfire-risk/zip/94014/)\n-   [94030 Millbrae17](/wildfire-risk/zip/94030/)\n-   [94066 San Bruno17](/wildfire-risk/zip/94066/)\n-   [94128 San Bruno17](/wildfire-risk/zip/94128/)\n-   [94401 San Mateo17](/wildfire-risk/zip/94401/)\n-   [94025 Menlo Park14](/wildfire-risk/zip/94025/)\n-   [94015 Broadmoor13](/wildfire-risk/zip/94015/)\n-   [94027 Atherton13](/wildfire-risk/zip/94027/)\n-   [94303 East Palo Alto13](/wildfire-risk/zip/94303/)\n-   [94404 Foster City13](/wildfire-risk/zip/94404/)\n\n**No sampled point inside** 13 ZIPs\n\n[94022 Ladera](/wildfire-risk/zip/94022/) · [94065 Foster City](/wildfire-risk/zip/94065/) · [94112 Daly City](/wildfire-risk/zip/94112/) · [94132 Broadmoor](/wildfire-risk/zip/94132/) · [94134 Brisbane](/wildfire-risk/zip/94134/) · [94301 Menlo Park](/wildfire-risk/zip/94301/) · [94304 Ladera](/wildfire-risk/zip/94304/) · [94305 Ladera](/wildfire-risk/zip/94305/) · [94402 San Mateo](/wildfire-risk/zip/94402/) · [94555 East Palo Alto](/wildfire-risk/zip/94555/) · [95006 La Honda](/wildfire-risk/zip/95006/) · [95017 Pescadero](/wildfire-risk/zip/95017/) · [95033 La Honda](/wildfire-risk/zip/95033/)\n\nGrouped from 29 of 42 ZIP areas — the rest had no sample point fall inside them. The community shown is the nearest mapped place to the ZIP's centre.\n\nZIP areas are Census 2020 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas intersecting the county boundary.\n\nWhere to go next\n\n## San Mateo County wildfire risk _in context_\n\n[California wildfire risk The statewide picture and every county page we publish](/wildfire-risk/california/) [Wildfire risk by state Every state and county we cover](/wildfire-risk/) [How Satelife calculates wildfire risk Data sources, layers, score composition, honest limits](/wildfire-risk/methodology/) [Create a wildfire evacuation plan Zones, egress routes, refuge areas](/wildfire-evacuation-plan/) [Run a report for a San Mateo County address PDF + score + mitigation plan](/#cta)\n\nFAQ\n\n## Frequently asked questions about _San Mateo County wildfire risk_\n\nHas much of San Mateo County burned since 1984?\n\nNo. The record here shows 2,063 acres burned since 1984, which is 0.4% of the county.\n\nWhat is the most recent large fire named for the county?\n\nThe most recent large fire named for San Mateo County is Whipple (2023).\n\nWhat fire is listed as the largest in the county summary?\n\nThe county summary names Cloverdale Vmp (2010) as the largest, at 404 acres, and marks it as outside the county.\n\nWere fire-weather conditions included in these county scores?\n\nNo. Fire weather was not measured at all in this county.\n\nWhich communities show higher and lower typical scores?\n\nHigher typical scores include Woodside (57.9) and Portola Valley (55.0). Lower typical scores include Foster City and Burlingame (both 6.7).\n\nThis page is generated from a San Mateo County data pack assembled on 2026-08-18 (pack v1.0). Scores are sampled across the county, not measured at any individual address, and are informational decision support — not a substitute for official evacuation orders, a fire-agency hazard determination, or an insurer's underwriting judgement. Data versions: fema\\_nri 1.20.0 (Dec 2025) · landfire per adapter · nifc\\_history All Years View · wfigs current · wrc v2.0 (2024) · zcta Census 2020.\n\n## What does _your parcel_ look like, layer by layer?\n\nA county range shows the spread. An address-level Satelife report shows where in that spread your property actually sits — PDF, per-layer score, and a prioritized mitigation plan.\n\n[Start with your address →](/#cta)\n\n[![PRR](/images/prr.png)](/ficha-de-website-voucher-satelife.pdf)\n\n© 2024–2026 Satelife, Lda. All rights reserved.\n\nSatelife reports are for informational purposes only and do not constitute insurance, financial, or legal advice."
}