Does Red Wing, MN need an earthquake retrofit?

Red Wing carries Seismic Design Category A under USGS's ASCE 7-16 model. Lowest seismic design category. Building code requires no seismic-specific detailing here beyond ordinary construction practice. Rank it against the rest of the country and Red Wing sits at the 3th percentile for seismic hazard among 4,875 US cities.

Red Wing by the numbers

USGS's underlying values for Red Wing: 0.022g peak ground acceleration, 0.047g at short period, 0.033g at 1 second. Within Minnesota alone, Red Wing ranks 119 of 155 cities by seismic hazard - the 23th percentile in-state. Red Wing has a population of about 16,788.

What a retrofit costs in Red Wing

A full earthquake retrofit typically runs $5,000-$10,000 nationally (around $7,000 typical), driven mainly by house size and foundation type, not by Minnesota specifically. California's Earthquake Brace + Bolt grant, which covers a large share of this cost, is a California-only program and does not apply in Minnesota.

Earthquake insurance for a Red Wing home

A Red Wing homeowner cannot buy a standalone earthquake policy in most cases - it is added to an existing homeowners policy as an endorsement, so the place to start is a regular home-insurance quote.

Where Red Wing's figures come from

Red Wing's Category A and every number above trace to USGS's own ASCE 7-16 Design Maps service - see the methodology guide. See the category explainer for what Category A does and doesn't tell you about Red Wing.