The USGS earthquake catalog at https://earthquake.usgs.gov/fdsnws/event/1 is searchable by time, place, and magnitude, and returns GeoJSON.
None — no key, no signup. Every example runs as-is.
Full reference: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/fdsnws/event/1/
Magnitude 6+, newest first.
curl "https://earthquake.usgs.gov/fdsnws/event/1/query?format=geojson&minmagnitude=6&limit=2&orderby=time"{
"type": "FeatureCollection",
"metadata": {
"generated": 1790198174000,
"url": "https://earthquake.usgs.gov/fdsnws/event/1/query?format=geojson&minmagnitude=6&limit=2&orderby=time",
"title": "USGS Earthquakes",
"status": 200,
"api": "2.7.0",
"limit": 2,
"offset": 1
},
"features": [
{
"type": "Feature",
"properties": {
"mag": 6.4,
"place": "49 km NNE of Kainantu, Papua New Guinea",
"time": 1789895855624,
"updated": 1789982725530,
"tz": null,
"url": "https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us7000tiqc",
"detail": "https://earthquake.usgs.gov/fdsnws/event/1/query?eventid=us7000tiqc&format=geojson",
"felt": 30,
"cdi": 5.6,
"mmi": 5.41,
"alert": "green",
"status": "reviewed",
"tsunami": 0,
"sig": 647,
"net": "us"
},
"geometry": {
"type": "Point",
"coordinates": [
146.0922,
-5.9021
]
},
"id": "us7000tiqc"
},
{
"type": "Feature",
"properties": {
"mag": 6.5,
"place": "169 km W of Nikolski, Alaska",
"time": 1789654792210,
"updated": 1790173803267,
"tz": null,
"url": "https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us7000ti1p",
"detail": "https://earthquake.usgs.gov/fdsnws/event/1/query?eventid=us7000ti1p&format=geojson",
"felt": 8,
"cdi": 3.4,
"mmi": 4.983,
"alert": "green",
"status": "reviewed",
"tsunami": 1,
"sig": 653,
"net": "us"
},
"geometry": {
"type": "Point",
"coordinates": [
-171.3756,
52.8594
]
},
"id": "us7000ti1p"
}
],
"bbox": [
-171.3756,
-5.9021
]
}Within maxradiuskm of a point, over a date range.
curl "https://earthquake.usgs.gov/fdsnws/event/1/query?format=geojson&latitude=37.77&longitude=-122.42&maxradiuskm=100&starttime=2025-01-01&minmagnitude=3&limit=2"{
"type": "FeatureCollection",
"metadata": {
"generated": 1790198174000,
"url": "https://earthquake.usgs.gov/fdsnws/event/1/query?format=geojson&latitude=37.77&longitude=-122.42&maxradiuskm=100&starttime=2025-01-01&minmagnitude=3&limit=2",
"title": "USGS Earthquakes",
"status": 200,
"api": "2.7.0",
"limit": 2,
"offset": 1
},
"features": [
{
"type": "Feature",
"properties": {
"mag": 3.12,
"place": "9 km ENE of Blackhawk, CA",
"time": 1789197955810,
"updated": 1790105325751,
"tz": null,
"url": "https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/nc75434122",
"detail": "https://earthquake.usgs.gov/fdsnws/event/1/query?eventid=nc75434122&format=geojson",
"felt": 257,
"cdi": 3.4,
"mmi": null,
"alert": null,
"status": "reviewed",
"tsunami": 0,
"sig": 237,
"net": "nc"
},
"geometry": {
"type": "Point",
"coordinates": [
-121.820833333333,
37.8628333333333
]
},
"id": "nc75434122"
},
{
"type": "Feature",
"properties": {
"mag": 3.34,
"place": "3 km ESE of Larkfield-Wikiup, CA",
"time": 1788456807320,
"updated": 1789070003040,
"tz": null,
"url": "https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/nc75429272",
"detail": "https://earthquake.usgs.gov/fdsnws/event/1/query?eventid=nc75429272&format=geojson",
"felt": 1843,
"cdi": 3.4,
"mmi": 3.647,
"alert": null,
"status": "reviewed",
"tsunami": 0,
"sig": 512,
"net": "nc"
},
"geometry": {
"type": "Point",
"coordinates": [
-122.715,
38.501
]
},
"id": "nc75429272"
}
],
"bbox": [
-122.715,
37.862833333333
]
}Just the number of matching events.
curl "https://earthquake.usgs.gov/fdsnws/event/1/count?format=geojson&starttime=2025-01-01&endtime=2025-12-31&minmagnitude=5"{
"count": 2126,
"maxAllowed": 20000
}