Roswell, NM: what USGS's seismic model says

Under the seismic model IBC and ASCE 7 use for new construction, Roswell is Category A. Lowest seismic design category. Building code requires no seismic-specific detailing here beyond ordinary construction practice. Nationally, Roswell ranks above 13% of the 4,875 cities in this dataset for seismic hazard - the 13th percentile.

How Roswell compares

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.036g, short-period spectral response 0.077g, 1-second spectral response 0.038g. Among 35 New Mexico cities in this dataset, Roswell ranks 35 for seismic hazard, the 0th percentile within the state. About 47,176 people live in Roswell, New Mexico.

Retrofit economics for Roswell

Outside California, no state-level retrofit grant equivalent to Brace + Bolt could be found for New Mexico. A typical retrofit still runs $5,000-$10,000 nationally, about $7,000 for a common single-family job.

What this means for insurance

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 Roswell address.

More on how this number was built

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