Hermitage's Seismic Design Category, explained

Under the seismic model IBC and ASCE 7 use for new construction, Hermitage is Category B. Low seismic hazard. Code requires basic seismic detailing (bracing, connections) but no special structural system restrictions. That puts Hermitage in the 35th percentile nationally for seismic hazard - higher than 35% of the 4,875 US cities USGS was checked against here.

Where Hermitage sits in Pennsylvania

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.058g, short-period spectral response 0.114g, 1-second spectral response 0.046g. Among 193 Pennsylvania cities in this dataset, Hermitage ranks 107 for seismic hazard, the 45th percentile within the state. About 15,839 people live in Hermitage, Pennsylvania.

Retrofit economics for Hermitage

Outside California, no state-level retrofit grant equivalent to Brace + Bolt could be found for Pennsylvania. 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 Hermitage address.

More on how this number was built

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