Mora County, NM Shrink-Swell Risk

What Mora County, NM's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Mora County, NM's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 2.81% across 57.7% 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 Mora County, NM at once, not any single address. A local geotechnical report, typically $1,000-$5,000 (around $2,700 typical), is the only way to know what one lot in Mora County will actually do.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Mora County, NM 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, Mora County, NM is the 1,342-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within New Mexico alone it ranks 17 of 32. Mora County, NM is 1,926 square miles with a population of 4,096.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Perry County, OH and Coos County, NH 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 Mexico

Every county in New Mexico is on this site, including Harding County, NM and Lincoln County, NM. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.