Atlantic City's Seismic Design Category, explained

Under the seismic model IBC and ASCE 7 use for new construction, Atlantic City is Category A. Lowest seismic design category. Building code requires no seismic-specific detailing here beyond ordinary construction practice. Nationally, Atlantic City ranks above 15% of the 4,875 cities in this dataset for seismic hazard - the 15th percentile.

Atlantic City by the numbers

USGS's underlying values for Atlantic City: 0.062g peak ground acceleration, 0.121g at short period, 0.04g at 1 second. Within New Jersey alone, Atlantic City ranks 187 of 194 cities by seismic hazard - the 4th percentile in-state. Atlantic City has a population of about 38,959.

Bracing and bolting: the actual cost

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 New Jersey 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 New Jersey.

Earthquake insurance for a Atlantic City home

A Atlantic City 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 Atlantic City's figures come from

Atlantic City's Category A 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 A does and doesn't tell you about Atlantic City.