Who still insures homes in Auburn and the Placer foothills?

The FAIR Plan's quarterly report by ZIP code counted 11,243 residential policies in ten Auburn-area ZIP codes on September 30, 2026. The ten run from Auburn's 95602 and 95603 out to Colfax, Foresthill, Meadow Vista, Applegate, Newcastle, Alta, Dutch Flat and Weimar.

The Auburn-area total is up 63% from 6,890 on September 30, 2022, the FAIR Plan's five-year report by ZIP code shows. The Auburn-area count dipped slightly from 11,487 a year earlier.

The FAIR Plan placed 89% of its Auburn-area policies in its own High wildfire tier on September 30, 2026. Its September 30, 2026 report marked every Auburn-area ZIP code as distressed, a flag the FAIR Plan carries.

In 2022, the FAIR Plan held 25.4% of the insured homes in the ten Auburn-area ZIP codes, against 3.2% statewide, Department of Insurance figures show. In Foresthill's 95631, the share was 63.8%.

Second and seasonal homes make up 3.6% of housing units in the Auburn-area ZIP codes, against 2.4% statewide, by the Census Bureau's estimates for 2020 to 2024.

Yes, in the latest state data: standard insurers wrote 1,060 new home policies in the ten Auburn-area ZIP codes in 2023, and renewed 17,345.

In 2023, 11.4% of standard policies in the Auburn-area ZIP codes, or 2,377, were non-renewed, counting owners who left or switched, Department of Insurance data show. The statewide rate, counted the same way, was 8.7%. Meadow Vista's rate was 21.7% and Applegate's 23.1%.

The state's ZIP code figures end with 2023, so only a search shows what insurers will offer your home now.

For the statewide picture of which insurers take new customers, see who is writing home insurance in California.

The Mosquito Fire started on September 6, 2022, near Mosquito Road and the OxBow Reservoir east of Foresthill, in Placer County.

The fire burned 76,788 acres in Placer and El Dorado counties and was contained on October 22, 2022. CAL FIRE last updated its incident page on June 14, 2023.

In CAL FIRE's last status update, on September 23, 2022, damage inspectors had assessed every structure inside the fire's perimeter. That update lists 78 structures destroyed and 13 damaged.

A year earlier, the River Fire started on August 4, 2021, near Milk Ranch Road and Bear River Campground Road, north of Applegate. It burned 2,619 acres in Nevada and Placer counties and destroyed 142 structures, CAL FIRE's page shows, last updated October 12, 2022.

The Department of Insurance barred non-renewals for wildfire risk for one year, starting August 5, 2021, during the River Fire, in every Auburn-area ZIP code but Newcastle's 95658. During the Mosquito Fire, it did the same from September 8, 2022, in Auburn's 95603, Foresthill, Alta, Colfax and Dutch Flat.

Both protections have ended, and a new moratorium starts only after a new emergency is declared.

The City of Auburn adopted its fire hazard severity zone map in Ordinance 25-02, passed April 28, 2025, and in effect 30 days later.

The city began with the State Fire Marshal's map of January 22, 2025, then moved any parcel that spans more than one zone into the highest. Lower-rated pockets surrounded by higher zones were raised to match. State law lets a city raise a zone but never lower it.

Outside city limits, Placer County adopted the state's 2025 map for parts of the unincorporated county in Ordinance 6319-B, on June 10, 2025.

The zone sets local fire rules, not your price. In an April 4, 2025 alert, the Insurance Commissioner said, "The CAL FIRE hazard maps are not used for insurance rates or underwriting decisions." Underwriting means deciding which homes to insure, and insurers make that call with their own wildfire models.

Inside city limits, the official map is the city's own, which raised some parcels. The city's 2025 fire zone page links to it. Elsewhere, start with the state's fire hazard zone lookup.

Placer County itself appears on the Fire Risk Reduction Community List, active since July 1, 2026, but the City of Auburn does not. The list names local agencies, not homes, that "meet best practices for local fire planning."

The FAIR Plan's wildfire discount sheet, for policies starting on or after November 15, 2025, includes a community discount. A home qualifies if it "is located in a Fire Risk Reduction Community listed by the Board of Forestry," or in a Firewise USA site in good standing. Whether an address qualifies is the FAIR Plan's call, and its sheet says discounts are subject to change.

Inside Auburn city limits, renting for less than 30 days takes an Administrative Permit, and neighbors get 10 days to object, the city's rental page says.

The city's rules, amended by Ordinance 20-01 effective March 10, 2020, allow two overnight guests per bedroom, not counting children under 12.

Placer County's permit rules and their cap of 3,900 permits cover only the county's eastern area around Lake Tahoe, under County Code Article 9.42.

Hosting can fall outside a homeowners policy, so get your insurer's answer in writing before the first booking. Homeowners insurance and Airbnb guests explains where the line sits.

For an Auburn-area home, standard insurers are the first ask and specialty insurers the second, with the FAIR Plan held in reserve.

On an Auburn-area home, a FAIR Plan policy alone does not pay for a burst pipe's water damage, a theft or a visitor's injury. A fuller replacement policy would cover them.

If the FAIR Plan already insures your home, its October 15, 2026 rate change reaches you at renewal. Once a fuller policy starts, you can cancel the FAIR Plan mid-term.

Have these answers ready before you ask:

• Roof: its age and material, plus any permit or receipt from the last replacement.
• Updates: when the house was last rewired, and when its plumbing and heating were redone.
• Clearing: dated photos of the ground within 5, 30 and 100 feet of the house.
• Claims: any losses in the last five years, with the dates.