Brazoria County, TX Shrink-Swell Risk

What Brazoria County, TX's soil means for a foundation

Very High

USDA's SSURGO data puts Brazoria County, TX's soil at "Very High" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 10.17% across 57.8% of the county's surveyed land. This is the reading most likely to explain cracking a homeowner is already seeing. An engineered foundation design, not a conventional footing, is the realistic expectation for new construction.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Brazoria County, TX 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 Brazoria County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Brazoria County, TX rating "Very High", the gap between finding out early and finding out late is the whole decision. The report ($1,000-$5,000) is what tells you whether Brazoria County's county-level reading applies to your lot; the repair ($5,000-$15,000) is what it costs if you skip that and find out from the cracks instead.

Where this sits nationally

Nationally, Brazoria County, TX is the 26-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Texas alone it ranks 2 of 253. Brazoria County, TX is 1,363 square miles with a population of 413,224.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Steuben County, NY and Pecos County, TX are worth a look for comparison.

How this reading is built, and its real limits · The warning signs of expansive-clay damage, explained

More of Texas

Every county in Texas is on this site, including Burleson County, TX and Angelina County, TX. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.