Oxford's Seismic Design Category, explained

Under the seismic model IBC and ASCE 7 use for new construction, Oxford is Category C. Moderate seismic hazard. Code adds irregular-building restrictions and requires bracing of some nonstructural components (e.g. tall shelving, water heaters) in addition to structural detailing. Rank it against the rest of the country and Oxford sits at the 73th percentile for seismic hazard among 4,875 US cities.

Oxford by the numbers

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.129g, short-period spectral response 0.236g, 1-second spectral response 0.091g. Among 107 Alabama cities in this dataset, Oxford ranks 63 for seismic hazard, the 42th percentile within the state. About 22,088 people live in Oxford, Alabama.

What a retrofit costs in Oxford

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

Earthquake insurance for a Oxford 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 Oxford address.

More on how this number was built

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