Port Chester's Seismic Design Category, explained

Under the seismic model IBC and ASCE 7 use for new construction, Port Chester is Category B. Low seismic hazard. Code requires basic seismic detailing (bracing, connections) but no special structural system restrictions. Nationally, Port Chester ranks above 64% of the 4,875 cities in this dataset for seismic hazard - the 64th percentile.

Where Port Chester sits in New York

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.171g, short-period spectral response 0.28g, 1-second spectral response 0.06g. Among 170 New York cities in this dataset, Port Chester ranks 45 for seismic hazard, the 74th percentile within the state. About 30,957 people live in Port Chester, New York.

Bracing and bolting: the actual cost

Outside California, no state-level retrofit grant equivalent to Brace + Bolt could be found for New York. 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 Port Chester address.

More on how this number was built

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