Dahlonega's Seismic Design Category, explained

USGS's ASCE 7-16 seismic design model - the same standard building codes use - places Dahlonega 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 Dahlonega in the 74th percentile nationally for seismic hazard - higher than 74% of the 4,875 US cities USGS was checked against here.

How Dahlonega compares

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.14g, short-period spectral response 0.256g, 1-second spectral response 0.095g. Among 148 Georgia cities in this dataset, Dahlonega ranks 19 for seismic hazard, the 88th percentile within the state. About 7,830 people live in Dahlonega, Georgia.

Retrofit economics for Dahlonega

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

Insuring against this, not just retrofitting

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 Dahlonega address.

More on how this number was built

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