Mascoutah, IL: what USGS's seismic model says

USGS's ASCE 7-16 seismic design model - the same standard building codes use - places Mascoutah in Seismic Design Category D: High seismic hazard - this is the category most of coastal California, the Pacific Northwest, and other active fault regions fall into. Code mandates significant seismic detailing and restricts irregular structural configurations. This is the category the Brace + Bolt scope (cripple-wall bracing, foundation bolting) is built for. Rank it against the rest of the country and Mascoutah sits at the 85th percentile for seismic hazard among 4,875 US cities.

How Mascoutah compares

USGS's underlying values for Mascoutah: 0.296g peak ground acceleration, 0.509g at short period, 0.177g at 1 second. Within Illinois alone, Mascoutah ranks 18 of 330 cities by seismic hazard - the 95th percentile in-state. Mascoutah has a population of about 9,118.

What a retrofit costs in Mascoutah

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 Illinois 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 Illinois.

What this means for insurance

A Mascoutah 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 Mascoutah's figures come from

Mascoutah's Category D 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 D does and doesn't tell you about Mascoutah.