Septic soil in Cuyahoga County, OH, by the numbers

Very limited

Soil across 62.5% of Cuyahoga County, OH rates "Very limited" in USDA's septic-absorption-field interpretation. That reading means a conventional system is a poor bet here - 62.5% of Cuyahoga County lands in the strictest "very limited" bucket USDA uses. Cuyahoga County covers 457.232 square miles and counts 1,240,594 residents.

This is a county figure, not a parcel figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Cuyahoga County, OH at once, not any single address. A site-specific perc test, usually $750-$1,850, is what a health department will actually require before permitting a lot in Cuyahoga County.

System cost, conventional vs. engineered

Given Cuyahoga 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 Cuyahoga County, OH compares

Nationally, Cuyahoga County, OH is the 2,675-most-constrained of 3,058 rated counties for septic soil. Within Ohio alone it ranks 87 of 87.

Before you act on this

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