What Garfield County, CO's soil rates for a septic system
Very limited
91.6% of Garfield County, CO's surveyed soil comes back "Very limited" in USDA's own SSURGO data, the county's dominant condition for a septic absorption field. 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. Garfield County covers 2,947.425 square miles and counts 63,167 residents.
This is a county figure, not a parcel figure
Two lots a mile apart in Garfield 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 Garfield County.
System cost, conventional vs. engineered
Given Garfield 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 Garfield County, CO compares
Nationally, Garfield County, CO is the 1,096-most-constrained of 3,058 rated counties for septic soil. Within Colorado alone it ranks 10 of 63.
Related guides
How this rating is built, and its real limits · Conventional vs. engineered septic systems