What Albemarle County, VA's soil rates for a septic system

Very limited

In Albemarle County, VA, 68.2% of the surveyed land carries a "Very limited" rating for a standard septic drain field. A standard gravity system routinely fails on ground like this; the same share of the county falls in USDA's worst absorption-field bucket outright. Albemarle County covers 720.477 square miles and counts 117,313 residents.

This is a county figure, not a parcel figure

Two lots a mile apart in Albemarle County can carry different soil, even though they share one countywide rating. A site-specific perc test, usually $750-$1,850, is what a health department will actually require before permitting a lot in Albemarle County.

System cost, conventional vs. engineered

Given Albemarle County's rating, plan for the engineered-system range rather than the conventional one. The engineered-system range, $10,000-$40,000 (mound or aerobic treatment), is the more realistic number to plan around, against $3,000-$8,000 for a conventional system on the rare lot that passes.

How Albemarle County, VA compares

Nationally, Albemarle County, VA is the 2,522-most-constrained of 3,058 rated counties for septic soil. Within Virginia alone it ranks 73 of 110.

Before you act on this

How this rating is built, and its real limits · Conventional vs. engineered septic systems