Plymouth County, MA Shrink-Swell Risk

What Plymouth County, MA's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Plymouth County, MA's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 0.74% across 100% 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 Plymouth County, MA 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

With Plymouth County, MA 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.

Plymouth County's rank among Massachusetts counties

Nationally, Plymouth County, MA is the 3,009-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Massachusetts alone it ranks 6 of 14. The county spans 659 square miles, home to 542,090 people.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Hampshire County, MA and Creek County, OK 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 Massachusetts

Every county in Massachusetts is on this site, including Franklin County, MA and Dukes County, MA. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.