Forest Acres's Seismic Design Category, explained

Forest Acres carries Seismic Design Category C under USGS's ASCE 7-16 model. 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 Forest Acres in the 77th percentile nationally for seismic hazard - higher than 77% of the 4,875 US cities USGS was checked against here.

Forest Acres by the numbers

USGS's underlying values for Forest Acres: 0.196g peak ground acceleration, 0.347g at short period, 0.114g at 1 second. Within South Carolina alone, Forest Acres ranks 27 of 66 cities by seismic hazard - the 60th percentile in-state. Forest Acres has a population of about 10,438.

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 South Carolina 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 South Carolina.

Earthquake insurance for a Forest Acres home

A Forest Acres 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 Forest Acres's figures come from

Forest Acres's Category C 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 C does and doesn't tell you about Forest Acres.