Anchorage Municipality, AK Shrink-Swell Risk

What Anchorage Municipality, AK's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Anchorage Municipality, AK's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 1.5% across 100% 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 Anchorage Municipality, AK at once, not any single address. A site-specific soil report, usually $1,000-$5,000, is what an engineer would actually pull before designing a foundation on a lot in Anchorage Municipality.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Anchorage Municipality, AK 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.

Anchorage Municipality's rank among Alaska counties

Nationally, Anchorage Municipality, AK is the 2,489-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Alaska alone it ranks 2 of 11. Anchorage Municipality, AK is 1,707 square miles with a population of 289,600.

For contrast

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Josephine County, OR and Juab County, UT 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 Alaska

Every county in Alaska is on this site, including Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, AK and Bethel Census Area, AK. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.