Mercer County, NJ Shrink-Swell Risk

Mercer County, NJ's soil, for shrink-swell risk

Low

Mercer County, NJ: USDA's soil survey rates 95.9% of the county "Low" for shrink-swell potential (1.61% linear extensibility). 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.

What Mercer County's reading doesn't cover

Two lots a mile apart in Mercer County can carry different soil, even though they share one countywide reading. The real answer for one lot is still a site-specific geotechnical report, running about $1,000-$5,000 (typically near $2,700).

What it costs to find out, versus to ignore it

With Mercer County, NJ 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.

Mercer County's rank among New Jersey counties

Nationally, Mercer County, NJ is the 2,371-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within New Jersey alone it ranks 7 of 21. Mercer County covers 224 square miles and counts 392,138 residents.

For contrast

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Buchanan County, VA and Putnam County, TN 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 New Jersey

Every county in New Jersey is on this site, including Monmouth County, NJ and Passaic County, NJ. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.