Ramsey, NJ: what USGS's seismic model says

USGS's ASCE 7-16 seismic design model - the same standard building codes use - places Ramsey in Seismic Design Category B: Low seismic hazard. Code requires basic seismic detailing (bracing, connections) but no special structural system restrictions. That puts Ramsey in the 64th percentile nationally for seismic hazard - higher than 64% of the 4,875 US cities USGS was checked against here.

Ramsey by the numbers

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.178g, short-period spectral response 0.289g, 1-second spectral response 0.061g. Among 194 New Jersey cities in this dataset, Ramsey ranks 65 for seismic hazard, the 67th percentile within the state. About 15,003 people live in Ramsey, New Jersey.

Bracing and bolting: the actual cost

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

More on how this number was built

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