Owensboro's Seismic Design Category, explained

Owensboro 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. Nationally, Owensboro ranks above 82% of the 4,875 cities in this dataset for seismic hazard - the 82th percentile.

Owensboro by the numbers

USGS's underlying values for Owensboro: 0.218g peak ground acceleration, 0.399g at short period, 0.155g at 1 second. Within Kentucky alone, Owensboro ranks 9 of 79 cities by seismic hazard - the 90th percentile in-state. Owensboro has a population of about 60,675.

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 Kentucky 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 Kentucky.

Insuring against this, not just retrofitting

A Owensboro 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 Owensboro's figures come from

Owensboro'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 Owensboro.