Mission's Seismic Design Category, explained

Mission 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. Rank it against the rest of the country and Mission sits at the 1th percentile for seismic hazard among 4,875 US cities.

How Mission compares

USGS's underlying values for Mission: 0.019g peak ground acceleration, 0.041g at short period, 0.013g at 1 second. Within Texas alone, Mission ranks 364 of 384 cities by seismic hazard - the 5th percentile in-state. Mission has a population of about 88,574.

Retrofit economics for Mission

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 Mission 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 Mission's figures come from

Mission'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 Mission.