A prominent novel material which contains many advantages is shape memory alloy (SMA). However, the high expenses related to the material costs and difficulties associated with implementation of SMAs in reinforced concrete (RC) structures may limit their usage. To decrease the costs related to SMA installation, this paper investigates the seismic performance of RC moment-resisting frames with the intention of specifying the optimal locations for SMA utilization. To this end, a 2D RC frame and a 3D RC structure with 3 and 4 stories, respectively, are modeled and their joints were designated to SMA locations. Nonlinear dynamic time history analyses are conducted to evaluate the maximum base shear, maximum roof displacement, residual roof displacement demands using 3 ground-motion records. The results indicate that structures equipped with SMA have almost equal maximum base shear and higher maximum roof displacement, with respect to conventional RC structures. The residual roof displacements are ignorable in SMA-equipped RC structure.