Heath's Seismic Design Category, explained

Under the seismic model IBC and ASCE 7 use for new construction, Heath is Category B. Low seismic hazard. Code requires basic seismic detailing (bracing, connections) but no special structural system restrictions. Rank it against the rest of the country and Heath sits at the 31th percentile for seismic hazard among 4,875 US cities.

Where Heath sits in Ohio

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.053g, short-period spectral response 0.109g, 1-second spectral response 0.056g. Among 254 Ohio cities in this dataset, Heath ranks 243 for seismic hazard, the 4th percentile within the state. About 10,822 people live in Heath, Ohio.

Bracing and bolting: the actual cost

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

Earthquake insurance for a Heath home

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 Heath address.

More on how this number was built

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