Does Williamsburg, VA need an earthquake retrofit?

USGS's ASCE 7-16 seismic design model - the same standard building codes use - places Williamsburg in Seismic Design Category B: Low seismic hazard. Code requires basic seismic detailing (bracing, connections) but no special structural system restrictions. That puts Williamsburg in the 35th percentile nationally for seismic hazard - higher than 35% of the 4,875 US cities USGS was checked against here.

Where Williamsburg sits in Virginia

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.058g, short-period spectral response 0.114g, 1-second spectral response 0.043g. Among 63 Virginia cities in this dataset, Williamsburg ranks 53 for seismic hazard, the 16th percentile within the state. About 16,030 people live in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Retrofit economics for Williamsburg

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

Earthquake insurance for a Williamsburg home

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 Williamsburg address.

More on how this number was built

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