Kalamazoo, MI: what USGS's seismic model says

Under the seismic model IBC and ASCE 7 use for new construction, Kalamazoo is Category B. Low seismic hazard. Code requires basic seismic detailing (bracing, connections) but no special structural system restrictions. That puts Kalamazoo in the 37th percentile nationally for seismic hazard - higher than 37% of the 4,875 US cities USGS was checked against here.

How Kalamazoo compares

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.059g, short-period spectral response 0.116g, 1-second spectral response 0.054g. Among 153 Michigan cities in this dataset, Kalamazoo ranks 12 for seismic hazard, the 93th percentile within the state. About 73,290 people live in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

What a retrofit costs in Kalamazoo

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

Earthquake insurance for a Kalamazoo 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 Kalamazoo address.

More on how this number was built

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