Crystal City, TX: what USGS's seismic model says

Crystal City carries Seismic Design Category A under USGS's ASCE 7-16 model. Lowest seismic design category. Building code requires no seismic-specific detailing here beyond ordinary construction practice. Rank it against the rest of the country and Crystal City sits at the 4th percentile for seismic hazard among 4,875 US cities.

How Crystal City compares

USGS's underlying values for Crystal City: 0.023g peak ground acceleration, 0.05g at short period, 0.017g at 1 second. Within Texas alone, Crystal City ranks 352 of 384 cities by seismic hazard - the 8th percentile in-state. Crystal City has a population of about 6,009.

What a retrofit costs in Crystal City

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 Crystal City home

A Crystal City 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 Crystal City's figures come from

Crystal City'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 Crystal City.