Shepherdsville's Seismic Design Category, explained

Shepherdsville 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. That puts Shepherdsville in the 69th percentile nationally for seismic hazard - higher than 69% of the 4,875 US cities USGS was checked against here.

How Shepherdsville compares

USGS's underlying values for Shepherdsville: 0.093g peak ground acceleration, 0.192g at short period, 0.1g at 1 second. Within Kentucky alone, Shepherdsville ranks 28 of 79 cities by seismic hazard - the 65th percentile in-state. Shepherdsville has a population of about 14,837.

Retrofit economics for Shepherdsville

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 Kentucky 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 Kentucky.

Earthquake insurance for a Shepherdsville home

A Shepherdsville 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 Shepherdsville's figures come from

Shepherdsville's Category C 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 C does and doesn't tell you about Shepherdsville.