Kingsville, TX: what USGS's seismic model says

Kingsville 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 Kingsville in the 11th percentile nationally for seismic hazard - higher than 11% of the 4,875 US cities USGS was checked against here.

How Kingsville compares

USGS's underlying values for Kingsville: 0.031g peak ground acceleration, 0.063g at short period, 0.017g at 1 second. Within Texas alone, Kingsville ranks 256 of 384 cities by seismic hazard - the 33th percentile in-state. Kingsville has a population of about 24,884.

Bracing and bolting: the actual cost

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 Kingsville 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 Kingsville's figures come from

Kingsville'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 Kingsville.