Kern County, CA Shrink-Swell Risk

What Kern County, CA's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Kern County, CA's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 2.45% across 72.1% of the county's surveyed land. Among the 3,144 counties on this site, that's the clean result: little shrink-swell movement, standard construction the likely outcome.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Kern County, CA 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 Kern County, CA 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, Kern County, CA is the 1,597-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within California alone it ranks 38 of 58. The county spans 8,135 square miles, home to 922,529 people.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Washington County, WI and Fergus 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 California

Every county in California is on this site, including San Diego County, CA and San Joaquin County, CA. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.