Albany County, NY Shrink-Swell Risk

What Albany County, NY's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Albany County, NY's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 1.72% across 87.7% of the county's surveyed land. Among the 3,144 counties on this site, that's the clean result: little shrink-swell movement, standard construction the likely outcome.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Albany County, NY at once, not any single address. The real answer for one lot is still a site-specific geotechnical report, running about $1,000-$5,000 (typically near $2,700).

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Albany County, NY rating "Low", a geotechnical report is still worthwhile before a build, just less urgent than in a high-risk county. A geotechnical report runs $1,000-$5,000, typically around $2,700. Foundation repair, if a specific lot turns out to differ from the county average, runs $5,000-$15,000.

Where this sits nationally

Nationally, Albany County, NY is the 2,253-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within New York alone it ranks 17 of 62. Albany County, NY is 523 square miles with a population of 319,964.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Buffalo County, WI and Lee County, AR are worth a look for comparison.

How this reading is built, and its real limits · Moisture management: the cheap fix that works on any soil

More of New York

Every county in New York is on this site, including Jefferson County, NY and Schenectady County, NY. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.