Goodhue County, MN Shrink-Swell Risk

What Goodhue County, MN's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Goodhue County, MN's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 2% across 84.9% of the county's surveyed land. That's the easiest starting point on this site's scale - a standard foundation is the reasonable default here, though any one lot can still differ.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Goodhue County, MN 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 Goodhue County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Goodhue County, MN 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, Goodhue County, MN is the 1,983-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Minnesota alone it ranks 62 of 87. Goodhue County covers 757 square miles and counts 47,982 residents.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Chelan County, WA and McLean County, IL 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 Minnesota

Every county in Minnesota is on this site, including Nicollet County, MN and Kittson County, MN. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.