Mobile, AL: what USGS's seismic model says

Under the seismic model IBC and ASCE 7 use for new construction, Mobile is Category B. Low seismic hazard. Code requires basic seismic detailing (bracing, connections) but no special structural system restrictions. Rank it against the rest of the country and Mobile sits at the 27th percentile for seismic hazard among 4,875 US cities.

How Mobile compares

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.046g, short-period spectral response 0.094g, 1-second spectral response 0.06g. Among 107 Alabama cities in this dataset, Mobile ranks 90 for seismic hazard, the 16th percentile within the state. About 201,367 people live in Mobile, Alabama.

Bracing and bolting: the actual cost

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

Earthquake insurance for a Mobile 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 Mobile address.

More on how this number was built

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