Paris's Seismic Design Category, explained

Under the seismic model IBC and ASCE 7 use for new construction, Paris is Category B. Low seismic hazard. Code requires basic seismic detailing (bracing, connections) but no special structural system restrictions. That puts Paris in the 42th percentile nationally for seismic hazard - higher than 42% of the 4,875 US cities USGS was checked against here.

How Paris compares

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.066g, short-period spectral response 0.134g, 1-second spectral response 0.069g. Among 384 Texas cities in this dataset, Paris ranks 28 for seismic hazard, the 93th percentile within the state. About 25,037 people live in Paris, Texas.

Retrofit economics for Paris

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

Earthquake insurance for a Paris 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 Paris address.

More on how this number was built

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