Monroe County, MO Shrink-Swell Risk

What Monroe County, MO's soil means for a foundation

High

USDA's SSURGO data puts Monroe County, MO's soil at "High" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 6.39% across 59.8% of the county's surveyed land. This is enough movement to matter: a standard footing can hold up here, but usually only with real moisture management, not by default.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Monroe County, MO 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

Given Monroe County's rating, spending a few thousand now is the way to avoid spending tens of thousands later. The report ($1,000-$5,000) is what tells you whether Monroe County's county-level reading applies to your lot; the repair ($5,000-$15,000) is what it costs if you skip that and find out from the cracks instead.

How Monroe County, MO compares

Nationally, Monroe County, MO is the 96-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Missouri alone it ranks 7 of 114. Monroe County covers 648 square miles and counts 8,890 residents.

For contrast

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Blount County, TN and Berkshire County, MA are worth a look for comparison.

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

More of Missouri

Every county in Missouri is on this site, including Gentry County, MO and Mercer County, MO. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.