Does Highland Village, TX need an earthquake retrofit?

USGS's ASCE 7-16 seismic design model - the same standard building codes use - places Highland Village in Seismic Design 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 Highland Village sits at the 33th percentile for seismic hazard among 4,875 US cities.

How Highland Village compares

USGS's underlying values for Highland Village: 0.055g peak ground acceleration, 0.112g at short period, 0.056g at 1 second. Within Texas alone, Highland Village ranks 57 of 384 cities by seismic hazard - the 85th percentile in-state. Highland Village has a population of about 16,137.

What a retrofit costs in Highland Village

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 Texas 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 Texas.

Insuring against this, not just retrofitting

A Highland Village 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 Highland Village's figures come from

Highland Village's Category B 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 B does and doesn't tell you about Highland Village.