Chapel Hill, TN
How exposed is Chapel Hill to wildfire?
Chapel Hill sits at the 29th percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 1,113 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Chapel Hill at the 32nd national percentile — 3 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Chapel Hill's building exposure, zone by zone
Direct exposure dominates in Chapel Hill: 88% of its 1,113 buildings, versus 12% Indirect and 0% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
Where Chapel Hill ranks
Chapel Hill scores 29th nationally and 17th within Tennessee — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Chapel Hill ranks 22,294 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 11,199 by building count (1 is largest). Within Tennessee alone, it ranks 417 of 502 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Tennessee on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
Chapel Hill's moderate rating (29th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Hardening a home in Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill's 88% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
More on how this number was built
Chapel Hill's 29th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Chapel Hill, see the exposure-zones guide.