Denver County, CO Shrink-Swell Risk
Denver County, CO's soil, for shrink-swell risk
Low
Denver County, CO: USDA's soil survey rates 65.6% of the county "Low" for shrink-swell potential (2.58% linear extensibility). Among the 3,144 counties on this site, that's the clean result: little shrink-swell movement, standard construction the likely outcome.
What Denver County's reading doesn't cover
Two lots a mile apart in Denver County can carry different soil, even though they share one countywide reading. 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 Denver County.
What it costs to find out, versus to ignore it
With Denver County, CO 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, Denver County, CO is the 1,488-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Colorado alone it ranks 23 of 63. Denver County, CO is 153 square miles with a population of 729,019.
Before you act on this
Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Larimer County, CO and Griggs County, ND 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 Colorado
Every county in Colorado is on this site, including San Juan County, CO and Bent County, CO. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.