Ossining's Seismic Design Category, explained

USGS's ASCE 7-16 seismic design model - the same standard building codes use - places Ossining in Seismic Design Category B: Low seismic hazard. Code requires basic seismic detailing (bracing, connections) but no special structural system restrictions. Nationally, Ossining ranks above 65% of the 4,875 cities in this dataset for seismic hazard - the 65th percentile.

How Ossining compares

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.182g, short-period spectral response 0.294g, 1-second spectral response 0.062g. Among 170 New York cities in this dataset, Ossining ranks 15 for seismic hazard, the 92th percentile within the state. About 26,895 people live in Ossining, New York.

Bracing and bolting: the actual cost

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

Earthquake insurance for a Ossining 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 Ossining address.

More on how this number was built

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