Cortland County, NY Shrink-Swell Risk

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

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Cortland County, NY's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 0.99% across 99.4% of the county's surveyed land. That's as favorable a county-level reading as this dataset produces - standard foundation practice, pending one lot's own geotechnical report.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Cortland County, NY at once, not any single address. A local geotechnical report, typically $1,000-$5,000 (around $2,700 typical), is the only way to know what one lot in Cortland County will actually do.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Cortland 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.

How Cortland County, NY compares

Nationally, Cortland County, NY is the 2,898-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within New York alone it ranks 48 of 62. Cortland County covers 499 square miles and counts 45,945 residents.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Lamar County, GA and Cass County, IA 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 Schuyler County, NY and Seneca County, NY. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.