PlainQuake

U.S. ranking · USGS ComCat

Most Earthquake-Prone U.S. States

U.S. states and territories ranked by total catalogued M4+ earthquakes.

Alaska
#1
8,929
M4+ events
38
ranked states

The verdict

Alaska leads with 8,929, ahead of Northern Mariana Islands (3,322) and Guam (2,453) across 38 ranked U.S. states & territories.

Alaska
#1 - 8,929
#2 Northern Mariana Islands
3,322
85%
share held by the top 3
38
U.S. states & territories ranked

Counts reflect both real seismicity and monitoring density; read alongside population exposure for risk.

Top 12 U.S. states & territories by m4+ events

U.S. states and territories ranked by total catalogued M4+ earthquakes.

Value

What this shows Alaska dominates U.S. seismicity thanks to the Aleutian Subduction Zone, where the Pacific Plate dives beneath North America. California follows, driven by the San Andreas system. Pacific territories, the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam, also rank high, sitting directly on the Ring of Fire.

Source USGS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat) As of 2025

Full ranking

M4+ events for all 38 ranked U.S. states & territories. Select any entry for its full seismic profile.

# State / territory M4+ events
1 Alaska 8,929
2 Northern Mariana Islands 3,322
3 Guam 2,453
4 California 877
5 Puerto Rico 296
6 Oregon 263
7 U.S. Virgin Islands 220
8 Hawaii 203
9 Nevada 168
10 Oklahoma 97
11 Idaho 73
12 Georgia 67
13 Texas 51
14 New Mexico 36
15 Montana 28
16 Utah 25
17 American Samoa 24
18 Washington 17
19 Wyoming 13
20 Colorado 12
21 Kansas 12
22 Arizona 7
23 Arkansas 5
24 Virginia 5
25 Louisiana 4
26 Tennessee 3
27 Illinois 3
28 Nebraska 2
29 Missouri 2
30 Kentucky 1
31 Maine 1
32 South Carolina 1
33 Michigan 1
34 Delaware 1
35 Ohio 1
36 Maryland 1
37 North Carolina 1
38 Florida 1

Source: USGS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat).

Frequently asked questions

Why does Alaska have so many earthquakes? ▼

Alaska sits above the Aleutian Subduction Zone, one of the most active tectonic boundaries on Earth. It has experienced three of the ten largest earthquakes ever recorded, including the M9.2 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake.

Are all states at earthquake risk? ▼

Western states face the highest risk, but every state has recorded earthquakes. The New Madrid Seismic Zone (Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee) produced some of the largest quakes in U.S. history in 1811–1812, and Charleston, SC saw an M7.3 in 1886.

Other rankings

Most quakes, countriesStrongest, countriesStrongest, U.S. statesMost significant (M6+)Highest avg magnitude
All countries
Earthquake data by country
All U.S. states
Earthquake data by state
Significant events
Major M6+ earthquakes worldwide

About this data

These rankings are computed directly from the USGS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat), the public-domain record maintained by the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program. Count-based leaderboards use the worldwide catalog of magnitude-4.0-and-above events from 2005 onward, the period over which the global seismograph network reliably detects and locates earthquakes everywhere, while magnitude leaderboards use the significant-event series of magnitude-6.0-and-above earthquakes stretching back to 1900. Magnitudes use the moment-magnitude scale (Mw), the modern standard that supersedes the older Richter scale; because the scale is logarithmic, each whole step up represents roughly thirty-two times more energy released. Remember that raw counts partly measure monitoring density, not only underlying seismicity, and that one historic outlier can anchor a high maximum magnitude, read each leaderboard alongside population exposure and building stock before drawing conclusions about real-world risk.

Source: USGS ComCat, verify with USGS → · See our methodology for the full pipeline.