Clinton's Seismic Design Category, explained

Under the seismic model IBC and ASCE 7 use for new construction, Clinton is Category B. Low seismic hazard. Code requires basic seismic detailing (bracing, connections) but no special structural system restrictions. That puts Clinton in the 27th percentile nationally for seismic hazard - higher than 27% of the 4,875 US cities USGS was checked against here.

Clinton by the numbers

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.046g, short-period spectral response 0.096g, 1-second spectral response 0.062g. Among 85 Iowa cities in this dataset, Clinton ranks 5 for seismic hazard, the 95th percentile within the state. About 24,118 people live in Clinton, Iowa.

Retrofit economics for Clinton

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

Earthquake insurance for a Clinton 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 Clinton address.

More on how this number was built

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