Kearny County, KS Shrink-Swell Risk

What Kearny County, KS's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Kearny County, KS's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 2.56% across 55.9% 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 Kearny County, KS 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 Kearny County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Kearny County, KS 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, Kearny County, KS is the 1,511-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Kansas alone it ranks 93 of 105. Kearny County covers 871 square miles and counts 3,808 residents.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Sioux County, ND and Heard County, GA 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 Kansas

Every county in Kansas is on this site, including Ford County, KS and Pratt County, KS. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.