Ocean City's Seismic Design Category, explained

Under the seismic model IBC and ASCE 7 use for new construction, Ocean City is Category A. Lowest seismic design category. Building code requires no seismic-specific detailing here beyond ordinary construction practice. That puts Ocean City in the 15th percentile nationally for seismic hazard - higher than 15% of the 4,875 US cities USGS was checked against here.

How Ocean City compares

USGS's underlying values for Ocean City: 0.059g peak ground acceleration, 0.117g at short period, 0.039g at 1 second. Within New Jersey alone, Ocean City ranks 193 of 194 cities by seismic hazard - the 1th percentile in-state. Ocean City has a population of about 11,219.

Retrofit economics for Ocean City

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 New Jersey 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 New Jersey.

Insuring against this, not just retrofitting

A Ocean City 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 Ocean City's figures come from

Ocean City'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 Ocean City.