Ingham County, MI Shrink-Swell Risk

What Ingham County, MI's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Ingham County, MI's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 1.75% across 85.1% 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 Ingham County, MI at once, not any single address. The real answer for one lot is still a site-specific geotechnical report, running about $1,000-$5,000 (typically near $2,700).

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Ingham County, MI 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, Ingham County, MI is the 2,215-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Michigan alone it ranks 25 of 83. Ingham County covers 556 square miles and counts 290,427 residents.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Putnam County, GA and Orleans Parish, LA 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 Michigan

Every county in Michigan is on this site, including Calhoun County, MI and Van Buren County, MI. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.