Presque Isle, ME: what USGS's seismic model says

Presque Isle carries Seismic Design Category C under USGS's ASCE 7-16 model. 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. Nationally, Presque Isle ranks above 72% of the 4,875 cities in this dataset for seismic hazard - the 72th percentile.

Where Presque Isle sits in Maine

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.122g, short-period spectral response 0.235g, 1-second spectral response 0.085g. Among 20 Maine cities in this dataset, Presque Isle ranks 3 for seismic hazard, the 89th percentile within the state. About 8,728 people live in Presque Isle, Maine.

Bracing and bolting: the actual cost

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

More on how this number was built

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