Phenix City's Seismic Design Category, explained

Under the seismic model IBC and ASCE 7 use for new construction, Phenix City is Category B. Low seismic hazard. Code requires basic seismic detailing (bracing, connections) but no special structural system restrictions. Nationally, Phenix City ranks above 35% of the 4,875 cities in this dataset for seismic hazard - the 35th percentile.

How Phenix City compares

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.057g, short-period spectral response 0.121g, 1-second spectral response 0.071g. Among 107 Alabama cities in this dataset, Phenix City ranks 80 for seismic hazard, the 25th percentile within the state. About 38,509 people live in Phenix City, Alabama.

What a retrofit costs in Phenix City

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.

Insuring against this, not just retrofitting

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 Phenix City address.

More on how this number was built

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