Garden City's Seismic Design Category, explained

USGS's ASCE 7-16 seismic design model - the same standard building codes use - places Garden City 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. Nationally, Garden City ranks above 73% of the 4,875 cities in this dataset for seismic hazard - the 73th percentile.

Garden City by the numbers

USGS's underlying values for Garden City: 0.136g peak ground acceleration, 0.307g at short period, 0.11g at 1 second. Within Idaho alone, Garden City ranks 20 of 36 cities by seismic hazard - the 46th percentile in-state. Garden City has a population of about 12,936.

What a retrofit costs in Garden 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 Idaho 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 Idaho.

What this means for insurance

A Garden 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 Garden City's figures come from

Garden City'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 Garden City.