Ocean County, NJ Shrink-Swell Risk

What Ocean County, NJ's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Ocean County, NJ's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 1.12% across 95.3% 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 Ocean County, NJ 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 Ocean County will actually do.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Ocean 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.

Ocean County's rank among New Jersey counties

Nationally, Ocean County, NJ is the 2,827-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within New Jersey alone it ranks 16 of 21. Ocean County, NJ is 628 square miles with a population of 666,434.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Essex County, NJ and Lampasas County, TX 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 Passaic County, NJ and Camden County, NJ. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.