North Palm Beach, FL: what USGS's seismic model says

North Palm Beach 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 North Palm Beach sits at the 2th percentile for seismic hazard among 4,875 US cities.

North Palm Beach by the numbers

USGS's underlying values for North Palm Beach: 0.021g peak ground acceleration, 0.045g at short period, 0.024g at 1 second. Within Florida alone, North Palm Beach ranks 172 of 228 cities by seismic hazard - the 25th percentile in-state. North Palm Beach has a population of about 13,423.

Bracing and bolting: the actual cost

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 Florida 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 Florida.

What this means for insurance

A North Palm Beach 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 North Palm Beach's figures come from

North Palm Beach'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 North Palm Beach.