Taos County, NM Shrink-Swell Risk

What Taos County, NM's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Taos County, NM's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 2.4% across 72.7% 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 Taos County, NM 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 Taos County, NM 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 Taos County, NM compares

Nationally, Taos County, NM is the 1,646-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within New Mexico alone it ranks 25 of 32. The county spans 2,202 square miles, home to 34,482 people.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Douglas County, CO and Pawnee County, NE 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 Mexico

Every county in New Mexico is on this site, including Sandoval County, NM and Colfax County, NM. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.