Lafourche Parish, LA Shrink-Swell Risk

Lafourche Parish's SSURGO shrink-swell reading

Very High

In Lafourche Parish, LA, 57.6% of the surveyed soil carries a "Very High" shrink-swell rating, 11.23% linear extensibility on average. This is the reading most likely to explain cracking a homeowner is already seeing. An engineered foundation design, not a conventional footing, is the realistic expectation for new construction.

Before you rely on this for one address

Lafourche Parish's reading is an average across the whole county, not a promise about any one lot inside it. The real answer for one lot is still a site-specific geotechnical report, running about $1,000-$5,000 (typically near $2,700).

Budgeting for Lafourche Parish, LA

With Lafourche Parish, LA rating "Very High", the gap between finding out early and finding out late is the whole decision. A geotechnical report runs $1,000-$5,000 (typically $2,700); an actual foundation repair, once cracking sets in, typically runs $5,000-$15,000 (around $10,000 typical) - roughly 4x the report.

Where this sits nationally

Among the 3,085 rated counties on this site, Lafourche Parish, LA ranks 17 most-constrained nationally, and 12 of 64 within Louisiana. Lafourche Parish covers 1,070 square miles and counts 95,342 residents.

See how another county compares

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

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

Elsewhere in Louisiana

Every county in Louisiana is on this site, including Iberia Parish, LA and Evangeline Parish, LA. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.