Valley Park, MO: what USGS's seismic model says

Under the seismic model IBC and ASCE 7 use for new construction, Valley Park is Category D. High seismic hazard - this is the category most of coastal California, the Pacific Northwest, and other active fault regions fall into. Code mandates significant seismic detailing and restricts irregular structural configurations. This is the category the Brace + Bolt scope (cripple-wall bracing, foundation bolting) is built for. That puts Valley Park in the 83th percentile nationally for seismic hazard - higher than 83% of the 4,875 US cities USGS was checked against here.

How Valley Park compares

USGS's underlying values for Valley Park: 0.23g peak ground acceleration, 0.414g at short period, 0.156g at 1 second. Within Missouri alone, Valley Park ranks 34 of 135 cities by seismic hazard - the 75th percentile in-state. Valley Park has a population of about 6,747.

Retrofit economics for Valley Park

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 Missouri 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 Missouri.

Insuring against this, not just retrofitting

A Valley Park 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 Valley Park's figures come from

Valley Park's Category D 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 D does and doesn't tell you about Valley Park.