Lee County, MS Shrink-Swell Risk

What Lee County, MS's soil means for a foundation

Moderate

USDA's SSURGO data puts Lee County, MS's soil at "Moderate" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 3.42% across 58% of the county's surveyed land. Conventional foundations are the reasonable expectation here, with routine moisture-control practice rather than special engineering.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Lee County, MS 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 Lee County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Lee County, MS rating "Moderate", 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.

Lee County's rank among Mississippi counties

Nationally, Lee County, MS is the 893-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Mississippi alone it ranks 24 of 82. Lee County covers 450 square miles and counts 83,012 residents.

For contrast

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Audubon County, IA and Rockingham County, NC 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 Mississippi

Every county in Mississippi is on this site, including Jefferson Davis County, MS and Claiborne County, MS. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.