Jefferson County, TX Shrink-Swell Risk

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

High

USDA's SSURGO data puts Jefferson County, TX's soil at "High" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 6.09% across 30.1% of the county's surveyed land. Ground like this needs active moisture control to keep a conventional foundation from cracking - it's not automatic either way.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Jefferson County, TX 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 Jefferson County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Jefferson County, TX rating "High", the gap between finding out early and finding out late is the whole decision. The report ($1,000-$5,000) is what tells you whether Jefferson County's county-level reading applies to your lot; the repair ($5,000-$15,000) is what it costs if you skip that and find out from the cracks instead.

How Jefferson County, TX compares

Nationally, Jefferson County, TX is the 116-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Texas alone it ranks 40 of 253. The county spans 877 square miles, home to 253,948 people.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Denver County, CO and Steuben County, NY are worth a look for comparison.

How this reading is built, and its real limits · The warning signs of expansive-clay damage, explained

More of Texas

Every county in Texas is on this site, including Walker County, TX and Sherman County, TX. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.