The US Geological Survey recorded 31 earthquakes of magnitude 4.0 or stronger in and just off the United States in October 2026. Twenty-six of them were in Alaska. None caused reported deaths or major damage.
The largest quakes
| Date | Magnitude | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 15 | 5.6 | 43 km NNW of Lake Minchumina, interior Alaska |
| Oct 6 | 5.5 | 92 km NNW of Aleneva, Alaska (88 km deep) |
| Oct 20 | 5.0 | 81 km S of Sand Point, Alaska, offshore |
| Oct 29 | 5.0 | 143 km S of False Pass, Alaska, offshore |
| Oct 15 | 4.7 | 114 km SSW of Nikolski, Aleutian Islands |
| Oct 24 | 4.6 | 208 km WSW of Pistol River, offshore Oregon |
The Lake Minchumina quake was shallow, about 4.5 km deep, but it struck in a thinly settled part of the Alaska interior. Most of the other Alaska quakes were along the Aleutian chain and the Alaska Peninsula, where the Pacific Plate dives under North America.
Outside Alaska
- California: a magnitude 4.0 on October 28, 10 km north of Lake Pillsbury in the Mendocino National Forest.
- Oregon: two offshore quakes, a 4.6 on October 24 and a 4.2 on October 4, both far out on the plate boundary west of the coast.
- Texas: a magnitude 4.0 on October 11 in the Delaware Basin of West Texas, about 56 km south of Whites City, New Mexico. Smaller quakes hit the same spot that month. The area has seen a rise in earthquakes linked to oil and gas wastewater disposal.
- Puerto Rico: a 4.1 on October 28, offshore about 21 km southeast of Esperanza on Vieques.
How often big quakes hit near you
Every Hazard Compass county page now lists the strongest and most recent magnitude 4 or larger earthquakes within 50 miles, going back to 1900. Los Angeles County, for example, has had 310 since 1920, including the magnitude 6.7 Northridge earthquake of 1994. See the Los Angeles County page or find your county from the earthquake risk map.
Questions people ask
Can you feel a magnitude 4 earthquake? Usually, yes, within a few dozen miles. It can rattle dishes and wake people, but rarely causes damage beyond items falling from shelves.
Does home insurance cover earthquakes? No. Standard policies exclude earthquake damage. In California, the California Earthquake Authority sells separate policies through insurers. See our earthquake risk guide.
Why does Alaska have so many earthquakes? It sits on one of the most active plate boundaries in the world. The largest earthquake ever recorded in the US, a magnitude 9.2, struck there in 1964.
Source: USGS Earthquake Hazards Program catalog, magnitude 4.0 and up, October 1 to 31, 2026 (UTC), retrieved November 8, 2026. Counts cover Alaska east of the 180th meridian, the lower 48 and nearby offshore waters, and Puerto Rico.