San Marcos's Seismic Design Category, explained

San Marcos 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 San Marcos sits at the 7th percentile for seismic hazard among 4,875 US cities.

San Marcos by the numbers

USGS's underlying values for San Marcos: 0.024g peak ground acceleration, 0.052g at short period, 0.028g at 1 second. Within Texas alone, San Marcos ranks 325 of 384 cities by seismic hazard - the 15th percentile in-state. San Marcos has a population of about 74,316.

Retrofit economics for San Marcos

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 Texas 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 Texas.

Earthquake insurance for a San Marcos home

A San Marcos 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 San Marcos's figures come from

San Marcos'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 San Marcos.