Does Potsdam, NY need an earthquake retrofit?

Under the seismic model IBC and ASCE 7 use for new construction, Potsdam 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 Potsdam sits at the 79th percentile for seismic hazard among 4,875 US cities.

Potsdam by the numbers

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.249g, short-period spectral response 0.398g, 1-second spectral response 0.092g. Among 170 New York cities in this dataset, Potsdam ranks 4 for seismic hazard, the 98th percentile within the state. About 8,162 people live in Potsdam, New York.

What a retrofit costs in Potsdam

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 Potsdam address.

More on how this number was built

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