South Cleveland, TN
South Cleveland wildfire risk explained
South Cleveland sits at the 71st percentile nationally for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — per USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model, built from its 3,668 counted buildings, not vegetation cover alone. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts South Cleveland at the 75th percentile, close to its 71st-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
74% of South Cleveland's 3,668 buildings sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone, roughly 2,713 structures close enough to burnable vegetation for flame contact, not just embers — 25.8% fall in the Indirect, ember-only zone and 0.3% are Minimal.
How South Cleveland compares
There's little gap between South Cleveland's 71st national percentile and its 68th percentile inside Tennessee, which means the state comparison mostly confirms what the national score already shows. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, South Cleveland ranks 9,182 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,566 by building count (1 is largest). Within Tennessee alone, it ranks 162 of 502 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Tennessee on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in South Cleveland
South Cleveland's high rating (71st percentile) puts it among the places where the national carrier-pullback trend is most relevant — not a guarantee of a coverage problem, but a reason to shop rather than assume.
Lowering exposure, not just insuring around it
South Cleveland's 74% 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 South Cleveland's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 3,668 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for South Cleveland. The exposure-zones guide covers what South Cleveland's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.