McPherson, KS: what USGS's seismic model says

McPherson carries Seismic Design Category B under USGS's ASCE 7-16 model. Low seismic hazard. Code requires basic seismic detailing (bracing, connections) but no special structural system restrictions. That puts McPherson in the 19th percentile nationally for seismic hazard - higher than 19% of the 4,875 US cities USGS was checked against here.

How McPherson compares

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.037g, short-period spectral response 0.079g, 1-second spectral response 0.05g. Among 63 Kansas cities in this dataset, McPherson ranks 58 for seismic hazard, the 8th percentile within the state. About 14,068 people live in McPherson, Kansas.

Bracing and bolting: the actual cost

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

Earthquake insurance for a McPherson 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 McPherson address.

More on how this number was built

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