Ray County, MO Shrink-Swell Risk
Ray County, MO's soil, for shrink-swell risk
High
Ray County, MO: USDA's soil survey rates 62% of the county "High" for shrink-swell potential (6.06% linear extensibility). Ground like this needs active moisture control to keep a conventional foundation from cracking - it's not automatic either way.
What Ray County's reading doesn't cover
Two lots a mile apart in Ray County can carry different soil, even though they share one countywide reading. A site-specific soil report, usually $1,000-$5,000, is what an engineer would actually pull before designing a foundation on a lot in Ray County.
What it costs to find out, versus to ignore it
Ray County's soil reading is exactly the case where a report before construction, or before cracks widen, pays for itself. The report ($1,000-$5,000) is what tells you whether Ray County's county-level reading applies to your lot; the repair ($5,000-$15,000) is what it costs if you skip that and find out from the cracks instead.
How Ray County, MO compares
Nationally, Ray County, MO is the 124-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Missouri alone it ranks 14 of 114. The county spans 569 square miles, home to 23,199 people.
For contrast
Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Atoka County, OK and Ramsey County, MN are worth a look for comparison.
How this reading is built, and its real limits · The warning signs of expansive-clay damage, explained
More of Missouri
Every county in Missouri is on this site, including Carter County, MO and Madison County, MO. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.