Grants Pass, OR: what USGS's seismic model says

Under the seismic model IBC and ASCE 7 use for new construction, Grants Pass is Category D. High seismic hazard - this is the category most of coastal California, the Pacific Northwest, and other active fault regions fall into. Code mandates significant seismic detailing and restricts irregular structural configurations. This is the category the Brace + Bolt scope (cripple-wall bracing, foundation bolting) is built for. Nationally, Grants Pass ranks above 88% of the 4,875 cities in this dataset for seismic hazard - the 88th percentile.

Grants Pass by the numbers

USGS's underlying values for Grants Pass: 0.423g peak ground acceleration, 0.876g at short period, 0.483g at 1 second. Within Oregon alone, Grants Pass ranks 18 of 80 cities by seismic hazard - the 78th percentile in-state. Grants Pass has a population of about 39,468.

Retrofit economics for Grants Pass

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 Oregon 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 Oregon.

Insuring against this, not just retrofitting

A Grants Pass 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 Grants Pass's figures come from

Grants Pass's Category D 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 D does and doesn't tell you about Grants Pass.