Does Union City, CA need an earthquake retrofit?

Union City clears the point where the standard Seismic Design Category tables stop applying - USGS returns no letter here, only a flag that a site-specific study (ASCE 7-16 §11.4.8) is required. Treat that as more severe than any lettered category, not as missing data. Rank it against the rest of the country and Union City sits at the 99th percentile for seismic hazard among 4,875 US cities.

Union City by the numbers

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.892g, short-period spectral response 2.125g, 1-second spectral response 0.817g. Among 429 California cities in this dataset, Union City ranks 45 for seismic hazard, the 90th percentile within the state. About 66,196 people live in Union City, California.

What a retrofit costs in Union City

Because Union City is in California, the EBB grant applies if the ZIP code participates and the house qualifies (wood-framed house on a raised (not slab-on-grade) foundation, built before 1980): a $3,000-$7,000 bracing-and-bolting job drops to $0-$4,000 after the $3,000 base grant, or effectively free for income-eligible households getting the full $10,000.

Earthquake insurance for a Union City home

Earthquake coverage in California mostly runs through the California Earthquake Authority (CEA), sold only through licensed agents at CEA-participating insurers - there is no direct-to-consumer CEA policy. A general home-insurance quote is the practical starting point for a Union City homeowner asking about it.

More on how this number was built

The methodology guide covers exactly how USGS's public design-maps API produced Union City's numbers. The retrofit cost and grant guide covers every EBB eligibility rule, including the ones this page can't check.