Earthquakes in the United States

The United States is among the most consistently active regions in this catalogue, logging 6294 events in the past 30 days alone, and 238 of the events on record reached magnitude 5 or above — the level at which damage becomes a genuine concern for vulnerable construction. The United States sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, the belt of subduction zones responsible for roughly 90% of the world's earthquakes.

165,863 earthquakes have been recorded in the United States in our catalogue, 6294 of them in the past 30 days.

The average magnitude is 1.3 and the average focal depth 14 km. 1250 events reached magnitude 4 or above and 238 reached magnitude 5 or above.

The strongest earthquake recorded in the United States in this period was a magnitude 7.3 event near Sand Point, United States on 16 July 2025, at a depth of 20 km. A magnitude 7.3 earthquake radiates roughly 1.3 million tons of TNT equivalent in seismic energy.

Locations recording the most events include The Geysers (14763), Cobb (5975), Whites City (3509), Karluk (2888), Toyah (2839).

95% of events here are shallow (under 70 km), 5% 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 4.2 earthquake at 790 km beneath Anchor Point, United States on 31 March 2026.

By band, the catalogue holds 328 in the magnitude -2 range, 7495 in the magnitude -1 range, 46619 in the magnitude 0 range, 80594 in the magnitude 1 range, 24927 in the magnitude 2 range, 4631 in the magnitude 3 range.

The busiest single day was 10 May 2026, with 594 recorded events.

207 of these events carry a USGS link to NOAA tsunami information. That link flag does not mean a tsunami occurred or that a warning was issued.