Worcester County, MA Shrink-Swell Risk

What Worcester County, MA's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Worcester County, MA's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 0.52% across 99.9% of the county's surveyed land. That's as favorable a county-level reading as this dataset produces - standard foundation practice, pending one lot's own geotechnical report.

This is a county figure, not a lot figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Worcester County, MA 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 Worcester County, MA 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.

Worcester County's rank among Massachusetts counties

Nationally, Worcester County, MA is the 3,048-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Massachusetts alone it ranks 12 of 14. The county spans 1,511 square miles, home to 881,248 people.

Before you act on this

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Calcasieu Parish, LA and Upshur County, WV 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 Massachusetts

Every county in Massachusetts is on this site, including Nantucket County, MA and Middlesex County, MA. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.