Does Cottonwood Heights, UT need an earthquake retrofit?

USGS's ASCE 7-16 seismic design model - the same standard building codes use - places Cottonwood Heights in Seismic Design Category D: High seismic hazard - this is the category most of coastal California, the Pacific Northwest, and other active fault regions fall into. Code mandates significant seismic detailing and restricts irregular structural configurations. This is the category the Brace + Bolt scope (cripple-wall bracing, foundation bolting) is built for. Rank it against the rest of the country and Cottonwood Heights sits at the 94th percentile for seismic hazard among 4,875 US cities.

Where Cottonwood Heights sits in Utah

USGS's underlying values for Cottonwood Heights: 0.635g peak ground acceleration, 1.399g at short period, 0.512g at 1 second. Within Utah alone, Cottonwood Heights ranks 19 of 95 cities by seismic hazard - the 81th percentile in-state. Cottonwood Heights has a population of about 32,437.

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 Utah 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 Utah.

Earthquake insurance for a Cottonwood Heights home

A Cottonwood Heights 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 Cottonwood Heights's figures come from

Cottonwood Heights's Category D 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 D does and doesn't tell you about Cottonwood Heights.