Starr County, TX Shrink-Swell Risk

What Starr County, TX's soil means for a foundation

Moderate

USDA's SSURGO data puts Starr County, TX's soil at "Moderate" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 3.15% across 78.4% of the county's surveyed land. A real but modest amount of movement - standard foundations usually hold up, but drainage and moisture control around the foundation still matter more than on low-risk soil.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Starr County, TX 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 Starr County, TX rating "Moderate", 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, Starr County, TX is the 1,083-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Texas alone it ranks 180 of 253. Starr County, TX is 1,223 square miles with a population of 66,587.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Haywood County, TN and Marshall County, SD 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 Texas

Every county in Texas is on this site, including Wise County, TX and Cochran County, TX. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.