Does Mountain Home, ID need an earthquake retrofit?

USGS's ASCE 7-16 seismic design model - the same standard building codes use - places Mountain Home in Seismic Design Category C: Moderate seismic hazard. Code adds irregular-building restrictions and requires bracing of some nonstructural components (e.g. tall shelving, water heaters) in addition to structural detailing. Nationally, Mountain Home ranks above 72% of the 4,875 cities in this dataset for seismic hazard - the 72th percentile.

Mountain Home by the numbers

USGS's underlying values for Mountain Home: 0.118g peak ground acceleration, 0.267g at short period, 0.097g at 1 second. Within Idaho alone, Mountain Home ranks 31 of 36 cities by seismic hazard - the 14th percentile in-state. Mountain Home has a population of about 16,912.

What a retrofit costs in Mountain Home

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 Idaho 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 Idaho.

Insuring against this, not just retrofitting

A Mountain Home 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 Mountain Home's figures come from

Mountain Home's Category C 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 C does and doesn't tell you about Mountain Home.