Gadsden, TN
Gadsden wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Gadsden at the 45th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (modestly above the national average for wildfire risk), a figure built from 326 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Gadsden at the 46th national percentile — 1 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
Of Gadsden's 326 counted buildings, 92.6% carry Direct exposure and only 0% carry Minimal — a lopsided split that puts defensible-space clearing ahead of vents or roofing as the intervention worth doing first.
How Gadsden compares
Gadsden scores 45th nationally and 35th 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, Gadsden ranks 17,412 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 20,935 by building count (1 is largest). Within Tennessee alone, it ranks 326 of 502 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Tennessee on its state page.
Gadsden and the insurance market
Gadsden's elevated rating (45th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
With 92.6% of Gadsden in Direct exposure, defensible-space clearing and ember-resistant construction (vents, Class-A roofing) address the exposure this page's own numbers describe, not a generic checklist. See the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 326 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Gadsden. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Gadsden, see the exposure-zones guide.