Bayfield County, WI's soil, for a septic absorption field

Very limited

90.8% of Bayfield County, WI's surveyed soil comes back "Very limited" in USDA's own SSURGO data, the county's dominant condition for a septic absorption field. That reading means a conventional system is a poor bet here - 90.8% of Bayfield County lands in the strictest "very limited" bucket USDA uses. Bayfield County covers 1,477.882 square miles and counts 16,838 residents.

This is a county figure, not a parcel figure

Two lots a mile apart in Bayfield 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 Bayfield County.

System cost, conventional vs. engineered

Given Bayfield 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 Bayfield County, WI compares

Nationally, Bayfield County, WI is the 1,187-most-constrained of 3,058 rated counties for septic soil. Within Wisconsin alone it ranks 37 of 72.

Before you act on this

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