Does Center Point, AL need an earthquake retrofit?

USGS's ASCE 7-16 seismic design model - the same standard building codes use - places Center Point in Seismic Design Category C: Moderate seismic hazard. Code adds irregular-building restrictions and requires bracing of some nonstructural components (e.g. tall shelving, water heaters) in addition to structural detailing. That puts Center Point in the 75th percentile nationally for seismic hazard - higher than 75% of the 4,875 US cities USGS was checked against here.

How Center Point compares

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.164g, short-period spectral response 0.286g, 1-second spectral response 0.102g. Among 107 Alabama cities in this dataset, Center Point ranks 29 for seismic hazard, the 74th percentile within the state. About 15,603 people live in Center Point, Alabama.

What a retrofit costs in Center Point

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

Earthquake insurance for a Center Point 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 Center Point address.

More on how this number was built

The methodology guide covers exactly how USGS's public design-maps API produced Center Point'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.