Sturgeon Bay, WI: what USGS's seismic model says

Sturgeon Bay 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. That puts Sturgeon Bay in the 5th percentile nationally for seismic hazard - higher than 5% of the 4,875 US cities USGS was checked against here.

Sturgeon Bay by the numbers

USGS's underlying values for Sturgeon Bay: 0.023g peak ground acceleration, 0.048g at short period, 0.034g at 1 second. Within Wisconsin alone, Sturgeon Bay ranks 136 of 157 cities by seismic hazard - the 13th percentile in-state. Sturgeon Bay has a population of about 9,940.

Retrofit economics for Sturgeon Bay

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 Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin.

Earthquake insurance for a Sturgeon Bay home

A Sturgeon Bay 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 Sturgeon Bay's figures come from

Sturgeon Bay'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 Sturgeon Bay.