Pima County, AZ Shrink-Swell Risk

Pima County, AZ's soil, for shrink-swell risk

Low

Pima County, AZ: USDA's soil survey rates 80.7% of the county "Low" for shrink-swell potential (1.95% 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 Pima County's reading doesn't cover

Two lots a mile apart in Pima 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 Pima County, AZ 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.

Pima County's rank among Arizona counties

Nationally, Pima County, AZ is the 2,023-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Arizona alone it ranks 13 of 15. The county spans 9,189 square miles, home to 1,080,149 people.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. McDowell County, NC and Greenwood County, SC 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 Arizona

Every county in Arizona is on this site, including Navajo County, AZ and Cochise County, AZ. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.