Earthquakes in United States, 2017–2026
From 2017 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 1,800 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in or off United States. 10 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 8.2 on July 29, 2021 (2021 Chignik, Alaska Earthquake).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded 10 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 4.7 on October 15 (114 km SSW of Nikolski, Alaska). The strongest: magnitude 5.6 on October 15 (43 km NNW of Lake Minchumina, Alaska).
What the record holds
The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 6.4 on December 20, 2022 (15km WSW of Ferndale, CA), for which NOAA records 2 deaths. 16 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 4 of the events here, 5 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 7.3 on July 16, 2025 (2025 Sand Point, Alaska Earthquake). NOAA lists 19 tsunamis that began in or off United States, and 3 from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 481 m, on August 10, 2025. The deadliest, on July 16, 2023, killed one person here by NOAA’s runup records. NOAA lists 3 significant eruptions of one volcano in or off United States. The largest was Kilauea on February 1, 2018, at 1 on the volcanic explosivity index. It killed one person by NOAA’s count.
The events
- August 10, 2025Tsunami · 481 m hereTracy Arm, AkNOAA NCEI
- July 16, 2025Earthquake · M 7.32025 Sand Point, Alaska EarthquakeUSGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- July 16, 2023Earthquake · M 7.22023 Sand Point, Alaska Earthquake · one death (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- July 16, 2023Tsunami · 0.15 m highSand Point, Ak · one death here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- December 20, 2022Earthquake · M 6.415km WSW of Ferndale, CA · 2 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- July 29, 2021Earthquake · M 8.22021 Chignik, Alaska EarthquakeUSGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- October 19, 2020Earthquake · M 7.62020 Sand Point, Alaska EarthquakeUSGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- July 22, 2020Earthquake · M 7.82020 Perryville, Alaska EarthquakeUSGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- July 4, 2019Earthquake · M 6.4Ridgecrest Earthquake Sequence · one death (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- February 1, 2018Eruption · VEI 1Kilauea · one death (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- January 23, 2018Earthquake · M 7.9261 km SE of Chiniak, AlaskaUSGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
Good to know
- An event counts for United States when it began inside its borders, or at sea within 100 km of its coast (so one can count for two neighbours), or further out, up to 300 km, where United States is the nearest country.
- USGS counts are its ComCat catalogue’s earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more, aftershocks included.
- NOAA lists significant events only: earthquakes that killed, did about $1 million of damage, reached magnitude 7.5 or intensity X, or raised a tsunami, and eruptions and tsunamis by like measures. Magnitudes before 1900 are its estimates from written accounts.
- Deaths are NOAA’s total for each event, wherever people died, its tsunami and fires included. A tsunami counts the dead its runup records give for this place: NOAA’s total for a tsunami includes its source quake’s.
- A tsunami from elsewhere counts where one of its runups killed or rose a metre or more.
- The map frames the box around United States, its neighbours’ quakes included, so its count runs higher than this page’s.
- Counted to October 19, 2026. The map and the last 30 days ask USGS again.
How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Earthquakes, live, The world through history