Cumberland County, PA's soil, for a septic absorption field
Very limited
Soil across 60.9% of Cumberland County, PA rates "Very limited" in USDA's septic-absorption-field interpretation. This is the reading that pushes a project toward an engineered system rather than a conventional one, and it covers 60.9% of Cumberland County's land. Cumberland County, PA is 545.483 square miles with a population of 275,516.
What Cumberland County's reading doesn't cover
USDA's survey covers the whole of Cumberland County, PA 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 Cumberland County will actually do.
What a system would cost here
With 60.9% of Cumberland 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.
Where this sits nationally
Nationally, Cumberland County, PA is the 2,710-most-constrained of 3,058 rated counties for septic soil. Within Pennsylvania alone it ranks 65 of 66.
Related guides
How this rating is built, and its real limits · Conventional vs. engineered septic systems