{
  "title": "Wildfire Risk in Santa Clara County, CA 2026 | Satelife",
  "description": "Wildfire risk is not uniform across Santa Clara County. In the places we scored, the middle value is 54.8, with lows around 13.4 in Los Gatos and highs up to 82.5 near San Jose. That spread means two homes in different parts of the county can face very different wildfire exposure.",
  "image": "https://satelife.ai/images/wildfire-risk/santa-clara-county/generated/santa-clara-county-locator.webp",
  "canonical": "https://satelife.ai/wildfire-risk/california/santa-clara-county/",
  "content": "[Home](/)›[Wildfire Risk](/wildfire-risk/)›[California](/wildfire-risk/california/)›Santa Clara County\n\nSanta Clara County, California\n\n# Wildfire risk in Santa Clara County: _where it is highest_, and why\n\nWildfire risk is not uniform across Santa Clara County. In the places we scored, the middle value is 54.8, with lows around 13.4 in Los Gatos and highs up to 82.5 near San Jose. That spread means two homes in different parts of the county can face very different wildfire exposure.\n\n[Score my Santa Clara County address →](#score-my-address) [How risky is this county? ↓](#risk-at-a-glance)\n\nBefore 20002000s2010s2020sCommunity\n\nSanta Clara 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 Santa Clara County scores _High_ or worse\n\nWe scored 167 points across Santa Clara County on the same 0–100 scale a Satelife address report uses, and they do not land in one place. 10% of them come out Very High, while 27% are Low. Which end your own parcel sits at is not something a county map can tell you.\n\n10%\n\n50%\n\n13%\n\n27%\n\n**Very High** 10% · 17 of 167 points **High** 50% · 83 of 167 points **Moderate** 13% · 22 of 167 points **Low** 27% · 45 of 167 points\n\nSafest end we measured 13.4 near Los Gatos · Low\n\nMiddle of the county 54.8 High — half of Santa Clara County is above this\n\nMost exposed end we measured 82.5 near San Jose · Very 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 97.4 / 100\n\n$10.2M / yr FEMA NRI — expected annual loss from wildfire · rated Relatively High\n\n1.14% USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities — mean annual burn probability · 90th-percentile cell 2.53%\n\n3.69 ft USFS WRC — mean conditional flame length · 85% of the county carries burnable fuel\n\nFEMA NRI also rates Santa Clara County: all-hazards risk Very High · social vulnerability Very Low · community resilience Relatively High · annualised wildfire frequency 0.0059.\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 Santa Clara 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 _Santa Clara County_\n\nAcross the county, the largest group of scored places falls in the High tier, with 83 points in that band. FEMA’s National Risk Index rates county-wide wildfire risk as Relatively Moderate, while its wildfire expected annual loss rating is Relatively High.\n\nFire record\n\n## Where the fires _actually were_\n\nThe largest fire listed here is the Lick fire (2007), at 47,748 acres.\n\nThe most recent large fire is the Crews fire (2020), at 5,513 acres.\n\nSince 1984, 135,608 acres have burned in Santa Clara County, and that equals 16.3% of the county. The county has had 106 mapped fire perimeters over that period.\n\nAnother major event was the Canyon fire (2006), at 34,218 acres, and it was partly in Santa Clara County.\n\n![Loma Fire (2016) in Santa Clara County, California - The Loma Fire in California ignited on September 26, 2016, and quickly spread to cover 2,250 acres. According to Cal Fire, as of S](/images/wildfire-risk/santa-clara-county/photos/loma-fire-california-modis-2016-10-01.webp)\n\n**Loma Fire, 2016** — Santa Clara County. Photo: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC · [Public domain](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Loma_Fire,_California_\\(MODIS_2016-10-01\\).jpg)\n\n106 mapped fire perimeters centred in the county since 1984\n\n135,608 acres inside those perimeters since 1984\n\n16.3% of the county's area, as a share of 3,363 km²\n\nCrews 2020 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-   **Lick Fire**200747,748 acres\n-   **Bollinger Ridge Fire**196132,866 acres\n-   **Crews Fire**20205,513 acres\n-   **Lexington Fire**198513,128 acres\n-   **Loma Fire**20164,474 acres\n-   **Canyon Fire**200634,218 acres in totalcrossed into the county\n-   **Austrian Gulch Fire**19619,071 acres\n-   **Saunders Fire**19527,219 acres\n\nPerimeter sources: NIFC Interagency Fire Perimeter History · WFIGS Interagency Perimeters · largest on record: Lick 2007. 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, lower wildfire risk scores appear in places like Sunnyvale (13.4) and San Jose (16.7), while Santa Clara is higher at 23.4.\n\nHigher community values show up in Morgan Hill (55.4), Gilroy (48.4), and Saratoga (66.9). That pattern matches the county’s wider spread between urban lowlands and more exposed edges.\n\nAt smaller-community scale, Redwood Estates is 58.9 and San Martin is 52.4, while Los Altos Hills is 13.4. Nearby places can still differ a lot.\n\nSaratoga town · 30,153 people\n\n66.9 _High_\n\nRedwood Estates village\n\n58.9 _High_\n\nMorgan Hill town · 45,952 people\n\n55.4 _High_\n\nSan Martin village\n\n52.4 _High_\n\nGilroy city · 59,032 people\n\n48.4 _Moderate_\n\nMilpitas city · 84,196 people\n\n44.3 _Moderate_\n\nLos Altos town · 30,089 people\n\n32.4 _Moderate_\n\nLos Gatos town · 30,222 people\n\n27.4 _Moderate_\n\nSanta Clara city · 130,365 people\n\n23.4 _Low_\n\nMonte Sereno village · 3,427 people\n\n19.4 _Low_\n\n7 more communities in Santa Clara County\n\nSan Jose city · 1,013,240 people\n\n16.7 _Low_\n\nMountain View city · 82,739 people\n\n16.7 _Low_\n\nSunnyvale city · 152,703 people\n\n13.4 _Low_\n\nPalo Alto city · 65,364 people\n\n13.4 _Low_\n\nCupertino city · 59,276 people\n\n13.4 _Low_\n\nCampbell town · 41,793 people\n\n13.4 _Low_\n\nLos Altos Hills village · 8,423 people\n\n13.4 _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 Santa Clara County in the places we scored.\n\nTerrain is still an important part of the local pattern. Terrain scores run from 20.0 in Gilroy to 65.0 near Gilroy, with a county middle value of 40.0.\n\nVegetation and fuels also vary sharply by place. Scores run from 5.0 in Milpitas to 80.0 near Morgan Hill, with a middle value of 65.0.\n\n40 median terrain score (max 65 near Gilroy)\n\n65 median vegetation & fuels score (max 80 near Morgan Hill)\n\nFire weather\n\n## Fire weather across _Santa Clara County_\n\nFire weather was not measured at the sampled points in Santa Clara 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 varies a lot by location in this county. The lowest scored point is 13.4 in Los Gatos, while the highest is 82.5 near San Jose.\n\nBy tier counts, High is the most common level among the places we scored, with 83 points. Low is next, with 45 points.\n\nModerate includes 22 points, and Very High includes 17 points. So higher-exposure tiers are common, but they are not the whole county.\n\nEach bar is what one part of the score covers across Santa Clara 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\n20–65 highest near Gilroy\n\nVegetation & fuels\n\n5–80 highest near Morgan Hill\n\nHazard zone\n\n10–90 highest near Gilroy\n\nFire history\n\n5–95 highest near Santa Clara\n\nOverall score\n\n13.4–82.5 highest near San Jose\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\n20\n\n40\n\n65\n\nGilroy\n\nnear Gilroy\n\n167\n\nVegetation & fuels\n\n5\n\n65\n\n80\n\nMilpitas\n\nnear Morgan Hill\n\n167\n\nHazard zone\n\n10\n\n70\n\n90\n\nGilroy\n\nnear Gilroy\n\n167\n\nFire history\n\n5\n\n20\n\n95\n\nGilroy\n\nSanta Clara\n\n167\n\nComposite\n\n13.4\n\n54.8\n\n82.5\n\nLos Gatos\n\nnear San Jose\n\n167\n\nIndependently of Satelife's layers, the USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities grid puts the county's mean annual burn probability at **1.14%** (90th percentile cell: **2.53%**), with a mean conditional flame length of **3.69 ft**. **85%** of the 23,330 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 **2** of the 167 sampled points — the zones cover Local Responsibility Areas. At **1** of them the USFS grid above supplied the hazard reading instead; at the remaining 1 the hazard weight is renormalised away rather than scored as low.\n\n167 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\nFor property context, hazard-zone scores are wide in this county: 10.0 in Gilroy up to 90.0 near Gilroy, with a middle value of 70.0. This layer contributes to why parcels in different locations can have very different wildfire risk.\n\nFire-history scores also span a wide range, from 5.0 in Gilroy to 95.0 in Santa Clara, with a middle value of 20.0. Past fire footprint is one of several factors associated with current exposure.\n\nA separate federal model reports a mean annual burn probability of 1.14% and a 90th-percentile cell value of 2.53%. It also indicates that 84.6% of the county can burn.\n\nAcross 167 sampled points in Santa Clara County, the score runs from 13.4 to 82.5 — 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 Santa Clara 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 Santa Clara County\n\nEvery one of the 70 ZIP areas that touch Santa Clara 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**Very High** 1 ZIP\n\n-   [95140 San Jose76](/wildfire-risk/zip/95140/)\n\n**High** 11 ZIPs\n\n-   [95135 Morgan Hill75](/wildfire-risk/zip/95135/)\n-   [95363 75](/wildfire-risk/zip/95363/)\n-   [94550 Milpitas72](/wildfire-risk/zip/94550/)\n-   [95070 Saratoga69](/wildfire-risk/zip/95070/)\n-   [95132 Milpitas66](/wildfire-risk/zip/95132/)\n-   [95033 Redwood Estates63](/wildfire-risk/zip/95033/)\n-   [95023 Gilroy62](/wildfire-risk/zip/95023/)\n-   [95138 Morgan Hill56](/wildfire-risk/zip/95138/)\n-   [95037 Morgan Hill55](/wildfire-risk/zip/95037/)\n-   [95020 Gilroy53](/wildfire-risk/zip/95020/)\n-   [95120 Los Gatos53](/wildfire-risk/zip/95120/)\n\n**Moderate** 12 ZIPs\n\n-   [95014 Cupertino49](/wildfire-risk/zip/95014/)\n-   [95127 San Jose48](/wildfire-risk/zip/95127/)\n-   [95002 Sunnyvale43](/wildfire-risk/zip/95002/)\n-   [94305 Palo Alto40](/wildfire-risk/zip/94305/)\n-   [95111 San Jose40](/wildfire-risk/zip/95111/)\n-   [95148 San Jose39](/wildfire-risk/zip/95148/)\n-   [95134 Milpitas38](/wildfire-risk/zip/95134/)\n-   [95054 Santa Clara33](/wildfire-risk/zip/95054/)\n-   [95046 San Martin33](/wildfire-risk/zip/95046/)\n-   [94024 Los Altos32](/wildfire-risk/zip/94024/)\n-   [95123 Campbell32](/wildfire-risk/zip/95123/)\n-   [95035 Milpitas31](/wildfire-risk/zip/95035/)\n\n**Low** 20 ZIPs\n\n-   [94089 Sunnyvale20](/wildfire-risk/zip/94089/)\n-   [95121 San Jose20](/wildfire-risk/zip/95121/)\n-   [95032 Los Gatos19](/wildfire-risk/zip/95032/)\n-   [95030 Los Gatos17](/wildfire-risk/zip/95030/)\n-   [94022 Los Altos Hills13](/wildfire-risk/zip/94022/)\n-   [94041 Mountain View13](/wildfire-risk/zip/94041/)\n-   [94043 Mountain View13](/wildfire-risk/zip/94043/)\n-   [94085 Sunnyvale13](/wildfire-risk/zip/94085/)\n-   [94086 Sunnyvale13](/wildfire-risk/zip/94086/)\n-   [94087 Sunnyvale13](/wildfire-risk/zip/94087/)\n-   [94301 Palo Alto13](/wildfire-risk/zip/94301/)\n-   [94306 Palo Alto13](/wildfire-risk/zip/94306/)\n-   [95008 Campbell13](/wildfire-risk/zip/95008/)\n-   [95050 Santa Clara13](/wildfire-risk/zip/95050/)\n-   [95110 San Jose13](/wildfire-risk/zip/95110/)\n-   [95112 San Jose13](/wildfire-risk/zip/95112/)\n-   [95113 San Jose13](/wildfire-risk/zip/95113/)\n-   [95118 Campbell13](/wildfire-risk/zip/95118/)\n-   [95125 San Jose13](/wildfire-risk/zip/95125/)\n-   [95129 Cupertino13](/wildfire-risk/zip/95129/)\n\n**No sampled point inside** 26 ZIPs\n\n[94020 Los Altos Hills](/wildfire-risk/zip/94020/) · [94025 Palo Alto](/wildfire-risk/zip/94025/) · [94028 Los Altos Hills](/wildfire-risk/zip/94028/) · [94040 Mountain View](/wildfire-risk/zip/94040/) · [94062 Palo Alto](/wildfire-risk/zip/94062/) · [94303 Palo Alto](/wildfire-risk/zip/94303/) · [94304 Los Altos Hills](/wildfire-risk/zip/94304/) · [94538 Milpitas](/wildfire-risk/zip/94538/) · [94539 Milpitas](/wildfire-risk/zip/94539/) · [95013 Morgan Hill](/wildfire-risk/zip/95013/) · [95045 Gilroy](/wildfire-risk/zip/95045/) · [95051 Santa Clara](/wildfire-risk/zip/95051/) · [95053 Santa Clara](/wildfire-risk/zip/95053/) · [95076 Gilroy](/wildfire-risk/zip/95076/) · [95116 San Jose](/wildfire-risk/zip/95116/) · [95117 Campbell](/wildfire-risk/zip/95117/) · [95119 San Jose](/wildfire-risk/zip/95119/) · [95122 San Jose](/wildfire-risk/zip/95122/) · [95124 Campbell](/wildfire-risk/zip/95124/) · [95126 San Jose](/wildfire-risk/zip/95126/) · [95128 Campbell](/wildfire-risk/zip/95128/) · [95130 Campbell](/wildfire-risk/zip/95130/) · [95131 Milpitas](/wildfire-risk/zip/95131/) · [95133 San Jose](/wildfire-risk/zip/95133/) · [95136 San Jose](/wildfire-risk/zip/95136/) · [95139 Morgan Hill](/wildfire-risk/zip/95139/)\n\nGrouped from 44 of 70 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## Santa Clara 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 Santa Clara County address PDF + score + mitigation plan](/#cta)\n\nFAQ\n\n## Frequently asked questions about _Santa Clara County wildfire risk_\n\nWhat does it mean that most places are in the High tier?\n\nIt means High is the most common wildfire-risk tier among the places we scored in Santa Clara County (83 points). It does not mean every neighborhood is High, because Low (45), Moderate (22), and Very High (17) are also present.\n\nWhat are the key fires I should know here?\n\nThe largest fire listed is Lick (2007), at 47,748 acres. The most recent large fire is Crews (2020), at 5,513 acres.\n\nHow much of Santa Clara County has burned since 1984?\n\n16.3% of the county has burned since 1984, totaling 135,608 acres, with 106 mapped fire perimeters.\n\nDid this county include fire-weather scoring?\n\nNo. Fire weather was not measured at all in Santa Clara County in the places we scored.\n\nHow should I read the FEMA ratings on this page?\n\nThey are county-wide ratings from FEMA’s National Risk Index. For wildfire, FEMA rates Santa Clara County as Relatively Moderate for risk and Relatively High for expected annual loss.\n\nThis page is generated from a Santa Clara 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."
}