Palm Beach, FL: what USGS's seismic model says

Palm Beach carries Seismic Design Category A under USGS's ASCE 7-16 model. Lowest seismic design category. Building code requires no seismic-specific detailing here beyond ordinary construction practice. That puts Palm Beach in the 2th percentile nationally for seismic hazard - higher than 2% of the 4,875 US cities USGS was checked against here.

How Palm Beach compares

USGS's underlying values for Palm Beach: 0.021g peak ground acceleration, 0.045g at short period, 0.024g at 1 second. Within Florida alone, Palm Beach ranks 174 of 228 cities by seismic hazard - the 24th percentile in-state. Palm Beach has a population of about 9,493.

What a retrofit costs in Palm Beach

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 Florida 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 Florida.

What this means for insurance

A Palm Beach 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 Palm Beach's figures come from

Palm Beach'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 Palm Beach.