Cowan, TN
How exposed is Cowan to wildfire?
USFS scores Cowan at the 56th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 1,175 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Separately from the risk score above, Cowan's burn probability — fire likelihood with no building count factored in — sits at the 60th percentile nationally.
Where Cowan's buildings actually sit
1,175 buildings are counted in Cowan, and 58% of them are Indirect exposure — ember-driven risk rather than the 42% in Direct exposure or the 0% rated Minimal.
Where Cowan ranks
Cowan's risk sits at a similar level relative to Tennessee (50th percentile statewide) as it does nationally (56th) — this place isn't unusual for its own state either way. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Cowan ranks 13,786 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 10,795 by building count (1 is largest). Within Tennessee alone, it ranks 253 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
Cowan's elevated rating (56th 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 Cowan
Because 58% of Cowan's buildings sit in the Indirect zone, sealing the ember pathway (vents, roofing, gutters) is the intervention this page's data actually supports — see the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
Cowan's 56th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Cowan, see the exposure-zones guide.