New Berlin, WI: what USGS's seismic model says

USGS's ASCE 7-16 seismic design model - the same standard building codes use - places New Berlin in Seismic Design Category B: Low seismic hazard. Code requires basic seismic detailing (bracing, connections) but no special structural system restrictions. That puts New Berlin in the 20th percentile nationally for seismic hazard - higher than 20% of the 4,875 US cities USGS was checked against here.

New Berlin by the numbers

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.038g, short-period spectral response 0.078g, 1-second spectral response 0.049g. Among 157 Wisconsin cities in this dataset, New Berlin ranks 32 for seismic hazard, the 80th percentile within the state. About 40,302 people live in New Berlin, Wisconsin.

Retrofit economics for New Berlin

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

Earthquake insurance for a New Berlin 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 New Berlin address.

More on how this number was built

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