Jefferson County, KY Shrink-Swell Risk

What Jefferson County, KY's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Jefferson County, KY's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 2.63% across 68.3% 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 Jefferson County, KY 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 Jefferson County, KY 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.

Jefferson County's rank among Kentucky counties

Nationally, Jefferson County, KY is the 1,460-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Kentucky alone it ranks 50 of 120. Jefferson County, KY is 381 square miles with a population of 793,881.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Pierce County, WA and Sweet Grass County, MT 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 Kentucky

Every county in Kentucky is on this site, including Taylor County, KY and Edmonson County, KY. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.