Earthquake Risk Rankings 2026 — Worst & Best ZIP Codes

Twenty-five ZIP codes in the United States carry a Seismic Score of 100 — the maximum value in the FEMA National Risk Index — and every single one of them sits inside Los Angeles, California. From 90001 through 90025, the South LA basin occupies every position on the worst-of list, each carrying an expected annual loss of $1,352 million from seismic events. No other city comes close to that concentration at the top of the ranking.

Welcome to the 2026 Earthquake Risk Rankings. We analyzed 42,675 ZIP codes using FEMA's National Risk Index seismic hazard scores, which combine USGS probabilistic ground-motion maps with county-level exposure estimates for buildings, population, and agriculture into a single Seismic Score from 0 to 100. The result answers one question: which U.S. ZIP codes carry the most, and the least, expected annual loss from earthquake activity.

What the data reveals. The geography of American seismic risk follows fault boundaries, not state lines. The Pacific plate boundary drives the highest concentrations: the Los Angeles basin sits astride the San Andreas fault system and a dense network of blind thrust faults — Newport-Inglewood, Puente Hills, Sierra Madre — that make the region the most exposed urban area in the country. The San Francisco Bay Area carries its own cluster anchored by the Hayward fault, which runs directly beneath the East Bay's most densely built neighborhoods. Further north, the Cascadia Subduction Zone positions the Pacific Northwest — Seattle, Portland, coastal Oregon and Washington — for megathrust events that the scoring reflects in elevated but lower scores than Southern California, partly because sheer building exposure is smaller. Away from the Pacific coast, the New Madrid Seismic Zone cuts across the middle of the continent — Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky — producing a secondary cluster of elevated-risk ZIPs in a region most residents do not associate with earthquake hazard. Alaska, though seismically hyperactive, contributes fewer ranked ZIP codes simply because its population density is low.

The top of the list is just as revealing. The twenty-five lowest-scoring ZIP codes in the ranking are all in Puerto Rico — 00952 through 00987 — each recording a score of 0 with no FEMA NRI loss estimate. That outcome reflects the limits of continental-framework scoring: Puerto Rico sits on its own tectonic block and has genuine seismic exposure not captured in NRI's mainland dataset, so these entries record no data rather than true safety. On the continental side, the genuinely low-risk ZIP codes tend to cluster in the stable craton of the upper Midwest and the Atlantic Coastal Plain north of Charleston, South Carolina — areas where the ancient Precambrian basement has been seismically quiet for centuries. Texas leads the country with 2,727 ranked ZIP codes, followed by California (2,672) and New York (2,256), giving every major state enough depth to support meaningful within-state comparisons.

How to read this ranking. The Seismic Score is a probabilistic hazard measure multiplied by exposure, not a count of past earthquakes. A ZIP code that has never experienced a damaging event in recorded history can still carry a high score if the underlying fault geometry and ground-motion models indicate elevated expected loss. Conversely, a ZIP that experienced a major earthquake decades ago may score lower today if its exposed building stock is smaller or its underlying hazard estimates have been revised downward. The ranking tells you where federal science currently places the risk — not when or whether an earthquake will occur.

What this ranking does not tell you. It does not measure building code compliance, retrofit status of individual structures, or soil liquefaction susceptibility at the parcel level — all of which can dramatically change outcomes within a single ZIP code. It does not distinguish between a 1920s unreinforced masonry building and a modern base-isolated hospital two blocks away. It does not account for tsunami run-up in coastal zones or post-earthquake fire risk in dense urban areas. And because the NRI loss model operates at the county level and is distributed across ZIP codes by area, two adjacent ZIPs sometimes share identical scores even when their on-the-ground exposure differs. For property-level decisions, consult local building department records, California's Seismic Hazard Zones maps (for CA properties), or FEMA's individual NRI county reports.

42,675 ZIP codes analyzed · Data last refreshed 2026-04-12

42,675 ZIP codes analyzed · Worst score: 100

25 Worst ZIP Codes

25 Best ZIP Codes

Rankings by State

Methodology

Earthquake risk rankings use FEMA's National Risk Index (NRI) seismic hazard scores, which reflect the expected annual frequency and loss from earthquake events. Expected loss estimates include building, population, and agriculture damage. Data sources: FEMA NRI, USGS seismic hazard maps.

Last updated: 2026-06-04.

Frequently Asked Questions

How are these rankings calculated?

Rankings are based on federal agency data including EPA, FEMA, USGS, and PHMSA. Each ZIP code receives a score based on the specific risk factors for this category. See the methodology section above for details.

How often are rankings updated?

Rankings are regenerated quarterly using the latest available data. The date shown reflects the most recent update.

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