Houma's Seismic Design Category, explained

Under the seismic model IBC and ASCE 7 use for new construction, Houma is Category B. Low seismic hazard. Code requires basic seismic detailing (bracing, connections) but no special structural system restrictions. Nationally, Houma ranks above 22% of the 4,875 cities in this dataset for seismic hazard - the 22th percentile.

Houma by the numbers

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.041g, short-period spectral response 0.084g, 1-second spectral response 0.049g. Among 59 Louisiana cities in this dataset, Houma ranks 44 for seismic hazard, the 26th percentile within the state. About 31,671 people live in Houma, Louisiana.

Bracing and bolting: the actual cost

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

Insuring against this, not just retrofitting

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 Houma address.

More on how this number was built

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