Earthquakes in the U.S. Virgin Islands

The U.S. Virgin Islands records earthquakes steadily rather than in isolated bursts, with 42 events in the past 30 days, of which 39 reached magnitude 4 or above, the point at which shaking becomes widely noticeable. Activity here is almost entirely crustal, which means shaking at the surface is strong relative to the magnitudes involved.

843 earthquakes have been recorded in the U.S. Virgin Islands in our catalogue, 42 of them in the past 30 days.

The average magnitude is 3.4 and the average focal depth 34 km. 39 events reached magnitude 4 or above and 3 reached magnitude 5 or above.

The strongest earthquake recorded in the U.S. Virgin Islands in this period was a magnitude 5.6 event near Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands on 04 May 2025, at a depth of 20 km. A magnitude 5.6 earthquake radiates roughly 4,202 tons of TNT equivalent in seismic energy.

Locations recording the most events include Cruz Bay (472), Charlotte Amalie (334), Christiansted (13), Saint Croix (11).

94% of events here are shallow (under 70 km), 6% intermediate (70–300 km) and 0% deep-focus (over 300 km). Almost everything here is crustal. That is characteristic of transform faulting or continental deformation rather than subduction — and it means shaking at the surface is strong for the magnitudes involved.

The deepest event on record here was a magnitude 3.4 earthquake at 152 km beneath Cruz Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands on 01 June 2025.

By band, the catalogue holds 1 in the magnitude 1 range, 138 in the magnitude 2 range, 664 in the magnitude 3 range, 36 in the magnitude 4 range, 3 in the magnitude 5 range.

The busiest single day was 01 April 2026, with 39 recorded events.

No event in this record carries a USGS link to NOAA tsunami information.