Does Hiram, GA need an earthquake retrofit?

USGS's ASCE 7-16 seismic design model - the same standard building codes use - places Hiram 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. That puts Hiram in the 71th percentile nationally for seismic hazard - higher than 71% of the 4,875 US cities USGS was checked against here.

How Hiram compares

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.116g, short-period spectral response 0.218g, 1-second spectral response 0.089g. Among 148 Georgia cities in this dataset, Hiram ranks 35 for seismic hazard, the 77th percentile within the state. About 5,520 people live in Hiram, Georgia.

What a retrofit costs in Hiram

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

More on how this number was built

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