Craven County, NC's soil, for a septic absorption field
Very limited
In Craven County, NC, 85.9% of the surveyed land carries a "Very limited" rating for a standard septic drain field. This is the reading that pushes a project toward an engineered system rather than a conventional one, and it covers 85.9% of Craven County's land. Craven County, NC is 706.541 square miles with a population of 104,167.
What Craven County's reading doesn't cover
USDA's survey covers the whole of Craven County, NC at once, not any single address. A local percolation test, typically $750-$1,850 (around $1,300 typical), is the only way to know what one lot in Craven County will actually do.
What a system would cost here
With 85.9% of Craven County rating "Very limited", a standard gravity system is not a safe assumption here. 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 Craven County, NC compares
Nationally, Craven County, NC is the 1,626-most-constrained of 3,058 rated counties for septic soil. Within North Carolina alone it ranks 32 of 97.
Further reading
How this rating is built, and its real limits · Conventional vs. engineered septic systems