What Cambria County, PA's soil rates for a septic system

Very limited

95.4% of Cambria County, PA's surveyed soil comes back "Very limited" in USDA's own SSURGO data, the county's dominant condition for a septic absorption field. This is the reading that pushes a project toward an engineered system rather than a conventional one, and it covers 95.4% of Cambria County's land. Cambria County covers 687.963 square miles and counts 130,108 residents.

This is a county figure, not a parcel figure

Two lots a mile apart in Cambria 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 Cambria County.

System cost, conventional vs. engineered

Given Cambria 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.

Where this sits nationally

Nationally, Cambria County, PA is the 607-most-constrained of 3,058 rated counties for septic soil. Within Pennsylvania alone it ranks 24 of 66.

Further reading

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