Onondaga County, NY Shrink-Swell Risk

Onondaga County, NY's soil, for shrink-swell risk

Low

Onondaga County, NY: USDA's soil survey rates 91.9% of the county "Low" for shrink-swell potential (1.82% linear extensibility). That's as favorable a county-level reading as this dataset produces - standard foundation practice, pending one lot's own geotechnical report.

What Onondaga County's reading doesn't cover

Two lots a mile apart in Onondaga 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 Onondaga County, NY 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, Onondaga County, NY is the 2,144-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within New York alone it ranks 15 of 62. Onondaga County covers 778 square miles and counts 469,812 residents.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Baltimore city, MD and Delta County, CO 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 York

Every county in New York is on this site, including St. Lawrence County, NY and Livingston County, NY. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.