Does Buckeye, AZ need an earthquake retrofit?

Under the seismic model IBC and ASCE 7 use for new construction, Buckeye is Category B. Low seismic hazard. Code requires basic seismic detailing (bracing, connections) but no special structural system restrictions. Rank it against the rest of the country and Buckeye sits at the 48th percentile for seismic hazard among 4,875 US cities.

Where Buckeye sits in Arizona

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.074g, short-period spectral response 0.17g, 1-second spectral response 0.078g. Among 57 Arizona cities in this dataset, Buckeye ranks 54 for seismic hazard, the 5th percentile within the state. About 114,334 people live in Buckeye, Arizona.

What a retrofit costs in Buckeye

Outside California, no state-level retrofit grant equivalent to Brace + Bolt could be found for Arizona. A typical retrofit still runs $5,000-$10,000 nationally, about $7,000 for a common single-family job.

Earthquake insurance for a Buckeye home

Outside California, earthquake coverage is typically sold as an endorsement added to a standard homeowners policy, not a separate product - worth asking about directly when getting a home-insurance quote for a Buckeye address.

More on how this number was built

The methodology guide covers exactly how USGS's public design-maps API produced Buckeye's numbers. The guide to what a Seismic Design Category actually means covers why a category is never a substitute for an engineer's assessment of one specific house.