Septic soil in Jefferson County, TX, by the numbers

Very limited

Soil across 80.5% of Jefferson County, TX 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. Jefferson County covers 876.736 square miles and counts 253,948 residents.

This is a county figure, not a parcel figure

Nothing about Jefferson County, TX's SSURGO figure applies to a specific address - it's a county-wide average. A site-specific perc test, usually $750-$1,850, is what a health department will actually require before permitting a lot in Jefferson County.

System cost, conventional vs. engineered

Given Jefferson 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 Jefferson County, TX compares

Nationally, Jefferson County, TX is the 2,016-most-constrained of 3,058 rated counties for septic soil. Within Texas alone it ranks 151 of 253.

Related guides

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