Zimmerman, MN: what USGS's seismic model says

Under the seismic model IBC and ASCE 7 use for new construction, Zimmerman is Category A. Lowest seismic design category. Building code requires no seismic-specific detailing here beyond ordinary construction practice. Nationally, Zimmerman ranks above 4% of the 4,875 cities in this dataset for seismic hazard - the 4th percentile.

Zimmerman by the numbers

The raw figures: peak ground acceleration 0.023g, short-period spectral response 0.049g, 1-second spectral response 0.021g. Among 155 Minnesota cities in this dataset, Zimmerman ranks 91 for seismic hazard, the 42th percentile within the state. About 6,772 people live in Zimmerman, Minnesota.

Bracing and bolting: the actual cost

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

Insuring against this, not just retrofitting

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 Zimmerman address.

More on how this number was built

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