Pratt's Seismic Design Category, explained

Under the seismic model IBC and ASCE 7 use for new construction, Pratt is Category B. Low seismic hazard. Code requires basic seismic detailing (bracing, connections) but no special structural system restrictions. Rank it against the rest of the country and Pratt sits at the 23th percentile for seismic hazard among 4,875 US cities.

Where Pratt sits in Kansas

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.043g, short-period spectral response 0.091g, 1-second spectral response 0.048g. Among 63 Kansas cities in this dataset, Pratt ranks 43 for seismic hazard, the 32th percentile within the state. About 6,587 people live in Pratt, Kansas.

Retrofit economics for Pratt

Outside California, no state-level retrofit grant equivalent to Brace + Bolt could be found for Kansas. 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 Pratt address.

More on how this number was built

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