Arborlook
Risk & Response
by Arborlook Insights

Carter County, TN

Community risk profile | NRI Score: 41.0 Relatively Moderate

56,712
Population
12
Departments
39
Stations
18
Census Tracts

Natural Hazard Loss Profile

Expected annual loss across the 18 natural hazards in FEMA's National Risk Index. Life safety is expressed in fatality-equivalents, combining expected deaths and injuries. Property loss counts building damage only, separate from agriculture.

Natural Hazard Life Safety
0.37
expected fatality-equivalents per year, natural hazards only
55th highest of 95
Life Safety per 100k
0.65
natural hazard fatality-equivalents per 100,000 residents
78th highest of 95
Natural Hazard Property Loss
$10.8M
expected building loss per year, natural hazards only
35th highest of 95
Property Loss per Resident
$190
natural hazard building loss per resident per year
78th highest of 95

These figures cover natural hazards only. Structure fire, EMS, and motor vehicle incidents are not included in the National Risk Index and are not counted here, so this is not an all-cause life safety measure. For Carter County, the largest single contributor is Inland Flooding, 45% of the life-safety total.

Carter County carries an expected under 1 natural hazard fatality-equivalents and $10.8M in building loss per year. Rank chips compare the 95 Tennessee counties. Nationally, Carter County ranks 1337th of 3,222 U.S. counties for life-safety loss, 2313th for life safety per 100k residents, 1441st for property loss, and 2848th for property loss per resident. Computed from census tract data covering every resident, independent of fire department boundaries.

Add fire mortality, cause, and loss

Natural hazard exposure is one half of the picture. The other half is what your departments run on: fire deaths and injuries, cause of ignition, dollar loss per incident. That comes from NERIS incident reporting, and it grows as departments serving Carter County enroll. Our Regional tier brings it together across your jurisdiction, with participating departments, alongside response time analytics, cross-department benchmarking, and coverage gap analysis.

Talk to us about Carter County See what a department sees

What Drives the Loss

68%
32%
Property (buildings): $10.8M (67.9%)
Life safety: $5.0M (31.7%)
Agriculture: $66K (0.4%)

Total expected annual loss: $15,905,301 per year. Life safety is shown here in dollars, at FEMA's $13.7M value of statistical life, so the three shares sum to the total.

Hazards Ranked Two Ways

The hazard that threatens people is often not the hazard that destroys buildings. Both columns cover the same 18 hazards over the same year.

By life-safety loss ($/yr)

Inland Flooding
$2.3M
Strong Wind
$979K
Cold Wave
$758K
Tornado
$412K
Lightning
$338K
Earthquake
$155K

By property loss ($/yr)

Inland Flooding
$9.7M
Earthquake
$413K
Tornado
$322K
Ice Storm
$78K
Strong Wind
$70K
Hurricane
$55K

Census Tract Risk Map

Shaded by quintile across the census tracts in Carter County. Gray tracts have no modeled loss or no resident population. Per-resident figures on this map use the National Risk Index 2020 tract population.

Fire Service Profile

17%
83%
Career: 17% (2)
Volunteer: 83% (10)
Residents per Station
1,454
census population per registered station
Stations per 100k
68.8
registered stations per 100,000 residents

Department composition covers the 12 departments registered in NERIS Public for Carter County, TN. Departments that have not registered are not counted. Station coverage divides census population by registered stations; department service areas overlap, so their populations are not summed.

Department Rankings

Fire and EMS departments serving Carter County. Click column headers to sort.

NRI Rating is from FEMA's National Risk Index, which measures community risk across 18 natural hazards using expected annual losses, social vulnerability, and community resilience. Life-Safety Loss uses FEMA's Value of Statistical Life ($13.7M per expected fatality) to estimate annual risk to human life.

Department boundaries and station counts are self-reported through NERIS Public and may not reflect current service areas. Population and Life-Safety Loss reflect each department's full jurisdiction. County-level risk metrics are computed from census tract data and are not affected by boundary accuracy. See full methodology.

Showing 12 departments
Department Est. Population Life-Safety Loss NRI Rating Stations
Johnson City Fire Department 62,220 $2.9M Very Low 20
Hampton Volunteer Fire Department 20,374 $2.0M Relatively Moderate 3
Stoney Creek Volunteer Fire Department 14,445 $1.4M Relatively Moderate 1
West Carter County Fire Department 16,482 $1.4M Relatively Low 2
Elizabethton Fire Department 15,334 $1.4M Relatively Moderate 3
Unicoi Volunteer Fire Department 10,740 $790.0K Relatively High 2
Roan Mountain Volunteer Fire Department 7,083 $749.7K Relatively Moderate 1
Elk Mills-Poga Volunteer Fire Department 5,147 $612.6K Relatively Moderate 1
Shady Valley Volunteer Fire Department 5,080 $444.3K Relatively Moderate 1
Watauga Volunteer Fire Department Inc. 5,420 $365.7K Relatively Low 2
Dry Run Volunteer Fire Department 2,464 $202.5K Relatively Moderate 2
Central Community Volunteer Fire Department 2,386 $149.6K Very Low 1
No departments match your search.

Risk Snapshot

17.1%
Poverty Rate
22.8%
Age 65+
22.3%
Disability Rate
11.7%
Uninsured
54.7%
Pre-1980 Housing
18.4%
Mobile Homes
13.1%
Vacancy Rate
4.5%
Wood Heat
$49,306
Median HH Income

FEMA Disaster Declarations

8
Last 10 Years
12
Last 25 Years
Severe Storm
Most Frequent

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