Ashland's Seismic Design Category, explained

Ashland carries Seismic Design Category D under USGS's ASCE 7-16 model. High seismic hazard - this is the category most of coastal California, the Pacific Northwest, and other active fault regions fall into. Code mandates significant seismic detailing and restricts irregular structural configurations. This is the category the Brace + Bolt scope (cripple-wall bracing, foundation bolting) is built for. That puts Ashland in the 84th percentile nationally for seismic hazard - higher than 84% of the 4,875 US cities USGS was checked against here.

Ashland by the numbers

USGS's underlying values for Ashland: 0.276g peak ground acceleration, 0.592g at short period, 0.335g at 1 second. Within Oregon alone, Ashland ranks 67 of 80 cities by seismic hazard - the 16th percentile in-state. Ashland has a population of about 20,935.

Retrofit economics for Ashland

A full earthquake retrofit typically runs $5,000-$10,000 nationally (around $7,000 typical), driven mainly by house size and foundation type, not by Oregon specifically. California's Earthquake Brace + Bolt grant, which covers a large share of this cost, is a California-only program and does not apply in Oregon.

Insuring against this, not just retrofitting

A Ashland homeowner cannot buy a standalone earthquake policy in most cases - it is added to an existing homeowners policy as an endorsement, so the place to start is a regular home-insurance quote.

Where Ashland's figures come from

Ashland's Category D and every number above trace to USGS's own ASCE 7-16 Design Maps service - see the methodology guide. See the category explainer for what Category D does and doesn't tell you about Ashland.