Cameron County, PA's soil, for a septic absorption field

Very limited

Soil across 99.3% of Cameron County, PA rates "Very limited" in USDA's septic-absorption-field interpretation. 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. Cameron County covers 396.234 square miles and counts 4,348 residents.

This is a county figure, not a parcel figure

Two lots a mile apart in Cameron 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 Cameron County.

System cost, conventional vs. engineered

Given Cameron 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 Cameron County, PA compares

Nationally, Cameron County, PA is the 57-most-constrained of 3,058 rated counties for septic soil. Within Pennsylvania alone it ranks 2 of 66.

Before you act on this

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