U.S. ranking · USGS ComCat
U.S. States with the Strongest Earthquakes
U.S. states ranked by the highest-magnitude earthquake catalogued in their territory.
- Alaska
- #1
- M7.9
- Max magnitude
- 38
- ranked states
The verdict
Alaska leads with M7.9, ahead of Northern Mariana Islands (M7.7) and California (M7.2) across 38 ranked U.S. states & territories.
- Alaska
- #1 - M7.9
- #2 Northern Mariana Islands
- M7.7
- M5.4
- average across the list
- 38
- U.S. states & territories ranked
Magnitude is logarithmic, each whole step up is ~32× more energy released.
Full ranking
Max magnitude for all 38 ranked U.S. states & territories. Select any entry for its full seismic profile.
| # | State / territory | Max magnitude |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alaska | M7.9 |
| 2 | Northern Mariana Islands | M7.7 |
| 3 | California | M7.2 |
| 4 | Hawaii | M6.9 |
| 5 | Guam | M6.8 |
| 6 | Idaho | M6.5 |
| 7 | Puerto Rico | M6.4 |
| 8 | Oregon | M6.3 |
| 9 | U.S. Virgin Islands | M6.1 |
| 10 | Georgia | M6.0 |
| 11 | Nevada | M5.9 |
| 12 | Montana | M5.8 |
| 13 | Virginia | M5.8 |
| 14 | American Samoa | M5.8 |
| 15 | Oklahoma | M5.8 |
| 16 | Utah | M5.7 |
| 17 | New Mexico | M5.4 |
| 18 | Texas | M5.4 |
| 19 | Colorado | M5.3 |
| 20 | Arizona | M5.3 |
| 21 | Louisiana | M5.3 |
| 22 | Illinois | M5.2 |
| 23 | North Carolina | M5.1 |
| 24 | Kansas | M4.9 |
| 25 | Wyoming | M4.8 |
| 26 | Arkansas | M4.7 |
| 27 | Washington | M4.7 |
| 28 | Maine | M4.7 |
| 29 | Maryland | M4.6 |
| 30 | Tennessee | M4.4 |
| 31 | Kentucky | M4.2 |
| 32 | Michigan | M4.2 |
| 33 | South Carolina | M4.1 |
| 34 | Delaware | M4.1 |
| 35 | Nebraska | M4.1 |
| 36 | Ohio | M4.0 |
| 37 | Missouri | M4.0 |
| 38 | Florida | M4.0 |
Source: USGS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat).
Frequently asked questions
Has a magnitude-9 earthquake hit the continental U.S.? ▼
The ~M9.0 1700 Cascadia earthquake struck the Pacific Northwest before seismographs existed; evidence comes from Japanese tsunami records and coastal geology. These megathrusts recur every 200–500 years on the Cascadia Subduction Zone.
Are these maximum magnitudes recent only? ▼
The significant-event series covers M6+ back to 1900, with best instrumental coverage after 1970. Pre-instrumental events are estimated from accounts and geology, so exact magnitudes carry uncertainty.
Other rankings
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.