Does Erie, CO need an earthquake retrofit?

USGS's ASCE 7-16 seismic design model - the same standard building codes use - places Erie in Seismic Design Category B: Low seismic hazard. Code requires basic seismic detailing (bracing, connections) but no special structural system restrictions. Nationally, Erie ranks above 58% of the 4,875 cities in this dataset for seismic hazard - the 58th percentile.

Where Erie sits in Colorado

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.109g, short-period spectral response 0.201g, 1-second spectral response 0.057g. Among 79 Colorado cities in this dataset, Erie ranks 46 for seismic hazard, the 42th percentile within the state. About 38,594 people live in Erie, Colorado.

What a retrofit costs in Erie

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

What this means for insurance

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 Erie address.

More on how this number was built

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