Abstract | Structures are typically designed on the basis of ground motion spectral values associated to an “ultimate” limit state of reference, e.g., 10% in 50 years, which gives a measure of the hazard at the site of interest. However, this design approach does not guarantee that the risk will be uniform, even for buildings at sites that share the same design level, as measured, e.g., by the peak ground acceleration, mainly because of differences in hazard curve shape. Aiming to ensure a uniform collapse risk across different sites and buildings, Risk Targeted design maps were first introduced by ASCE7-10 to modify conventional design spectra by employing suitable adjustment factors. As there is more than one approach to define such factors, our objective is to test their effectiveness in matching a specific target risk or, at least, in harmonizing the risk of multiple buildings at different sites with respect to different limit states. To do so, we make use of simplified single-degree-of-freedom structures for several configurations of vibration period and ductility. Although risk matching is shown to be only theoretically possible and unachievable in practice, we claim that harmonization remains a viable and valuable target.