Does Cedar Park, TX need an earthquake retrofit?

USGS's ASCE 7-16 seismic design model - the same standard building codes use - places Cedar Park in Seismic Design Category A: Lowest seismic design category. Building code requires no seismic-specific detailing here beyond ordinary construction practice. That puts Cedar Park in the 8th percentile nationally for seismic hazard - higher than 8% of the 4,875 US cities USGS was checked against here.

Where Cedar Park sits in Texas

USGS's underlying values for Cedar Park: 0.025g peak ground acceleration, 0.053g at short period, 0.033g at 1 second. Within Texas alone, Cedar Park ranks 317 of 384 cities by seismic hazard - the 17th percentile in-state. Cedar Park has a population of about 78,380.

Retrofit economics for Cedar Park

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 Texas 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 Texas.

Earthquake insurance for a Cedar Park home

A Cedar Park 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 Cedar Park's figures come from

Cedar Park'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 Cedar Park.