Olney's Seismic Design Category, explained

Olney carries Seismic Design Category D under USGS's ASCE 7-16 model. High seismic hazard - this is the category most of coastal California, the Pacific Northwest, and other active fault regions fall into. Code mandates significant seismic detailing and restricts irregular structural configurations. This is the category the Brace + Bolt scope (cripple-wall bracing, foundation bolting) is built for. That puts Olney in the 85th percentile nationally for seismic hazard - higher than 85% of the 4,875 US cities USGS was checked against here.

How Olney compares

USGS's underlying values for Olney: 0.309g peak ground acceleration, 0.513g at short period, 0.165g at 1 second. Within Illinois alone, Olney ranks 16 of 330 cities by seismic hazard - the 95th percentile in-state. Olney has a population of about 8,431.

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 Illinois 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 Illinois.

What this means for insurance

A Olney 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 Olney's figures come from

Olney's Category D 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 D does and doesn't tell you about Olney.