Yakima County, WA Shrink-Swell Risk

What Yakima County, WA's soil means for a foundation

Low

USDA's SSURGO data puts Yakima County, WA's soil at "Low" shrink-swell potential, an area-weighted linear extensibility of 2.15% across 78.9% 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 Yakima County, WA 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 Yakima County will actually do.

Report cost vs. repair cost

With Yakima County, WA 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 Yakima County, WA compares

Nationally, Yakima County, WA is the 1,842-most-constrained of 3,085 rated counties for shrink-swell soil. Within Washington alone it ranks 8 of 39. The county spans 4,295 square miles, home to 258,523 people.

See how another county compares

Orleans Parish, LA carries this site's most-constrained reading. Stanley County, SD and St. Francois County, MO 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 Washington

Every county in Washington is on this site, including Whatcom County, WA and Mason County, WA. The full underlying dataset is downloadable directly, one row per county.