Does Takoma Park, MD need an earthquake retrofit?

Under the seismic model IBC and ASCE 7 use for new construction, Takoma Park is Category B. Low seismic hazard. Code requires basic seismic detailing (bracing, connections) but no special structural system restrictions. That puts Takoma Park in the 44th percentile nationally for seismic hazard - higher than 44% of the 4,875 US cities USGS was checked against here.

Takoma Park by the numbers

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.069g, short-period spectral response 0.133g, 1-second spectral response 0.043g. Among 46 Maryland cities in this dataset, Takoma Park ranks 17 for seismic hazard, the 64th percentile within the state. About 17,856 people live in Takoma Park, Maryland.

What a retrofit costs in Takoma Park

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

Insuring against this, not just retrofitting

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 Takoma Park address.

More on how this number was built

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