Shasta County, CA Shrink-Swell Risk

What Shasta County, CA's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Shasta County, CA's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 2.42% across 72.4% of the county's surveyed land. 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.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Shasta County, CA at once, not any single address. 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 Shasta County.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Shasta County, CA 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.

How Shasta County, CA compares

Nationally, Shasta County, CA is the 1,616-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within California alone it ranks 40 of 58. The county spans 3,776 square miles, home to 181,121 people.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Ferry County, WA and Waseca County, MN 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 California

Every county in California is on this site, including Los Angeles County, CA and Ventura County, CA. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.