Loveland's Seismic Design Category, explained

Under the seismic model IBC and ASCE 7 use for new construction, Loveland is Category B. Low seismic hazard. Code requires basic seismic detailing (bracing, connections) but no special structural system restrictions. Nationally, Loveland ranks above 56% of the 4,875 cities in this dataset for seismic hazard - the 56th percentile.

Loveland by the numbers

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.101g, short-period spectral response 0.189g, 1-second spectral response 0.056g. Among 79 Colorado cities in this dataset, Loveland ranks 52 for seismic hazard, the 35th percentile within the state. About 81,102 people live in Loveland, Colorado.

What a retrofit costs in Loveland

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

What this means for insurance

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 Loveland address.

More on how this number was built

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