Bay County, FL Shrink-Swell Risk

What Bay County, FL's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Bay County, FL's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 0.88% across 100% of the county's surveyed land. That's the easiest starting point on this site's scale - a standard foundation is the reasonable default here, though any one lot can still differ.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Bay County, FL 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 Bay County, FL 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, Bay County, FL is the 2,949-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Florida alone it ranks 45 of 66. Bay County, FL is 759 square miles with a population of 199,718.

For contrast

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Jefferson County, TN and Madison County, MS 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 Florida

Every county in Florida is on this site, including Hillsborough County, FL and Hernando County, FL. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.