Lexington-Fayette urban county's Seismic Design Category, explained

Under the seismic model IBC and ASCE 7 use for new construction, Lexington-Fayette urban county is Category B. Low seismic hazard. Code requires basic seismic detailing (bracing, connections) but no special structural system restrictions. Nationally, Lexington-Fayette urban county ranks above 53% of the 4,875 cities in this dataset for seismic hazard - the 53th percentile.

Where Lexington-Fayette urban county sits in Kentucky

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.087g, short-period spectral response 0.173g, 1-second spectral response 0.082g. Among 79 Kentucky cities in this dataset, Lexington-Fayette urban county ranks 57 for seismic hazard, the 28th percentile within the state. About 329,437 people live in Lexington-Fayette urban county, Kentucky.

Bracing and bolting: the actual cost

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

Earthquake insurance for a Lexington-Fayette urban county 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 Lexington-Fayette urban county address.

More on how this number was built

The methodology guide covers exactly how USGS's public design-maps API produced Lexington-Fayette urban county'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.