Does Spokane, WA need an earthquake retrofit?

Spokane 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. Nationally, Spokane ranks above 74% of the 4,875 cities in this dataset for seismic hazard - the 74th percentile.

Where Spokane sits in Washington

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.137g, short-period spectral response 0.307g, 1-second spectral response 0.112g. Among 125 Washington cities in this dataset, Spokane ranks 119 for seismic hazard, the 5th percentile within the state. About 230,609 people live in Spokane, Washington.

What a retrofit costs in Spokane

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

Earthquake insurance for a Spokane home

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 Spokane address.

More on how this number was built

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