Cookeville, TN
How exposed is Cookeville to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, Cookeville lands at the 45th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — modestly above the national average for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 13,438 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Cookeville's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 48th percentile nationally.
Cookeville's building exposure, zone by zone
13,438 buildings are counted in Cookeville, and 45.2% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 29.2% rated Minimal. At 13,438 buildings, this is a substantial built environment, so the shares below describe a real population of structures, not a handful of edge cases.
How Cookeville compares
Cookeville's risk sits at a similar level relative to Tennessee (34th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (45th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Cookeville ranks 17,469 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 1,127 by building count (1 is largest). Within Tennessee alone, it ranks 329 of 502 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Tennessee on its state page.
Cookeville and the insurance market
At the 45th national percentile, Cookeville rates elevated for wildfire risk — well short of the threshold where insurers have been withdrawing coverage, though comparing a quote costs nothing either way.
Hardening a home in Cookeville
Cookeville's 45.2% 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.
Where Cookeville's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 13,438 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Cookeville. The exposure-zones guide covers what Cookeville's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.