Dawson County, TX Shrink-Swell Risk

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

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Dawson County, TX's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 2.68% across 84.9% 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 Dawson County, TX 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 Dawson County will actually do.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Dawson County, TX 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.

Dawson County's rank among Texas counties

Nationally, Dawson County, TX is the 1,430-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Texas alone it ranks 209 of 253. Dawson County covers 900 square miles and counts 11,758 residents.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Steele County, ND and Stewart County, TN 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 Texas

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