Gem County, ID Shrink-Swell Risk

What Gem County, ID's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Gem County, ID's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 2.96% across 64.8% 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 Gem County, ID 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 Gem County will actually do.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Gem County, ID 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 Gem County, ID compares

Nationally, Gem County, ID is the 1,223-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Idaho alone it ranks 8 of 44. Gem County covers 560 square miles and counts 21,857 residents.

For contrast

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Lawrence County, IN and Wayne County, NY 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 Idaho

Every county in Idaho is on this site, including Boundary County, ID and Lemhi County, ID. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.