Kerrville's Seismic Design Category, explained

Kerrville carries Seismic Design Category A under USGS's ASCE 7-16 model. Lowest seismic design category. Building code requires no seismic-specific detailing here beyond ordinary construction practice. That puts Kerrville in the 4th percentile nationally for seismic hazard - higher than 4% of the 4,875 US cities USGS was checked against here.

Kerrville by the numbers

USGS's underlying values for Kerrville: 0.022g peak ground acceleration, 0.047g at short period, 0.023g at 1 second. Within Texas alone, Kerrville ranks 355 of 384 cities by seismic hazard - the 8th percentile in-state. Kerrville has a population of about 25,141.

What a retrofit costs in Kerrville

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.

What this means for insurance

A Kerrville 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 Kerrville's figures come from

Kerrville's Category A 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 A does and doesn't tell you about Kerrville.