Does Woodbury, MN need an earthquake retrofit?

USGS's ASCE 7-16 seismic design model - the same standard building codes use - places Woodbury in Seismic Design Category A: Lowest seismic design category. Building code requires no seismic-specific detailing here beyond ordinary construction practice. That puts Woodbury in the 4th percentile nationally for seismic hazard - higher than 4% of the 4,875 US cities USGS was checked against here.

How Woodbury compares

USGS's underlying values for Woodbury: 0.022g peak ground acceleration, 0.047g at short period, 0.03g at 1 second. Within Minnesota alone, Woodbury ranks 98 of 155 cities by seismic hazard - the 37th percentile in-state. Woodbury has a population of about 80,596.

What a retrofit costs in Woodbury

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 Minnesota 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 Minnesota.

What this means for insurance

A Woodbury 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 Woodbury's figures come from

Woodbury'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 Woodbury.