Salem County, NJ Shrink-Swell Risk

What Salem County, NJ's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Salem County, NJ's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 1.57% across 89.8% 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 Salem County, NJ at once, not any single address. A local geotechnical report, typically $1,000-$5,000 (around $2,700 typical), is the only way to know what one lot in Salem County will actually do.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Salem County, NJ 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.

Salem County's rank among New Jersey counties

Nationally, Salem County, NJ is the 2,413-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within New Jersey alone it ranks 8 of 21. Salem County covers 332 square miles and counts 65,874 residents.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Whitman County, WA and Randall County, TX 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 Jersey

Every county in New Jersey is on this site, including Mercer County, NJ and Burlington County, NJ. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.