Stevens County, KS Shrink-Swell Risk

What Stevens County, KS's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Stevens County, KS's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 2.66% across 64.8% 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 Stevens County, KS 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 Stevens County will actually do.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Stevens County, KS 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, Stevens County, KS is the 1,445-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Kansas alone it ranks 87 of 105. Stevens County, KS is 727 square miles with a population of 5,035.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Bell County, KY and Clark County, IN 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 Kansas

Every county in Kansas is on this site, including Meade County, KS and Clark County, KS. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.