Virginia Beach's Seismic Design Category, explained

USGS's ASCE 7-16 seismic design model - the same standard building codes use - places Virginia Beach in Seismic Design Category A: Lowest seismic design category. Building code requires no seismic-specific detailing here beyond ordinary construction practice. Rank it against the rest of the country and Virginia Beach sits at the 13th percentile for seismic hazard among 4,875 US cities.

Where Virginia Beach sits in Virginia

USGS's underlying values for Virginia Beach: 0.037g peak ground acceleration, 0.079g at short period, 0.038g at 1 second. Within Virginia alone, Virginia Beach ranks 63 of 63 cities by seismic hazard - the 0th percentile in-state. Virginia Beach has a population of about 454,808.

What a retrofit costs in Virginia Beach

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 Virginia 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 Virginia.

Earthquake insurance for a Virginia Beach home

A Virginia Beach 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 Virginia Beach's figures come from

Virginia Beach'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 Virginia Beach.