Ramsey County, MN Shrink-Swell Risk

What Ramsey County, MN's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Ramsey County, MN's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 1.6% across 91.9% of the county's surveyed land. That's as favorable a county-level reading as this dataset produces - standard foundation practice, pending one lot's own geotechnical report.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Ramsey County, MN 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 Ramsey County, MN 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, Ramsey County, MN is the 2,382-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Minnesota alone it ranks 70 of 87. Ramsey County covers 152 square miles and counts 542,015 residents.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Polk County, OR and Monmouth County, NJ 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 Minnesota

Every county in Minnesota is on this site, including Lincoln County, MN and Wabasha County, MN. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.