Kent County, MI Shrink-Swell Risk

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

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Kent County, MI's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 1.56% across 91.6% 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 Kent County, MI 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 Kent County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Kent 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, Kent County, MI is the 2,423-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Michigan alone it ranks 31 of 83. Kent County covers 850 square miles and counts 673,002 residents.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Summit County, UT and Burke 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 Michigan

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