Natural hazards · Golden Hills

Golden Hills, CA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Golden Hills comes from wildfires, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 1 claim here since 1998.

FEMA National Risk Index, December 2025 · OpenFEMA claims, aid & declarations

Expected damage

How exposed is Golden Hills?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Golden Hills to be higher than in 87% of U.S. communities, mostly from wildfires and inland flooding.

Wildfire46%Inland flooding28%Earthquakes22%Everything else5%

By hazard

What Golden Hills faces

Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how that compares with the rest of the country.

Wildfire

46% of expected damage

Well above average · among the top 1% of U.S. places

Inland flooding

28% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 60% of U.S. places

Recorded about 6 times a year in the area

Earthquakes

22% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 87% of U.S. places

Lower here

TornadoesHailWinter weatherHeat wavesLandslidesStrong windLightningDrought

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesIce stormsCold wavesAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic activity

Flood risk changes street by street. Check a specific address on FEMA’s flood map, and ask about flood insurance before you buy.

Flood insurance claims

Does Golden Hills flood?

Every paid claim on a federal flood insurance policy in Golden Hills, from FEMA’s records.

1paid claims since 1998

$1Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19982026

Biggest named events

Pineapple Express - Southern: 1 claim, $1K

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Golden Hills isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.

Insurance rates: Kern County.

Disasters that hit Golden Hills

Federal disasters declared here

None of the disasters declared for Kern County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Golden Hills itself in FEMA’s records.

Brought FEMA money into Golden HillsDeclared for Kern County only

Kern County has had 37 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often fires and floods.

About these numbers

How to read this page

An average, not a forecastFEMA’s National Risk Index estimates the damage 18 kinds of natural hazards cause in a typical year, from decades of records and models. A quiet decade can follow a bad year.

Compared by rate“Higher than N%” compares yearly damage as a share of what’s here, so a big city isn’t rated riskier just for having more buildings. Golden Hills covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Golden Hills’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Golden Hills. FEMA’s model follows property values, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.

FEMA’s expected losses across Golden Hills total about $2.4M a year, counting buildings, people and crops.

Sources: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025); OpenFEMA: NFIP redacted claims, multiple-loss properties, community status book and residential penetration rates, housing assistance (owners and renters), public assistance funded projects, hazard mitigation properties and disaster declarations. Census tracts: U.S. Census Bureau.