Cottontown, TN
Cottontown wildfire risk explained
Out of every US place USFS scores, Cottontown lands at the 26th percentile for wildfire risk to structures — close to the middle of USFS's national wildfire-risk range — a figure built from its 327 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Cottontown at the 29th national percentile — 2 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
100% of Cottontown's 327 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 327 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 0% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0% are Minimal.
How Cottontown compares
Cottontown scores 26th nationally and 11th 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, Cottontown ranks 23,272 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 20,901 by building count (1 is largest). Within Tennessee alone, it ranks 445 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
Cottontown's moderate wildfire rating (26th percentile) isn't the kind of score driving the carrier pullback making news in the highest-risk Western markets — but a standard homeowners quote is still worth comparing on its own terms.
Hardening a home in Cottontown
Cottontown's 100% 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 Cottontown's figures come from
Cottontown's 26th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. The exposure-zones guide covers what Cottontown's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.