Septic soil in Lancaster County, NE, by the numbers

Very limited

Soil across 98.3% of Lancaster County, NE rates "Very limited" in USDA's septic-absorption-field interpretation. That reading means a conventional system is a poor bet here - 98.3% of Lancaster County lands in the strictest "very limited" bucket USDA uses. Lancaster County covers 837.56 square miles and counts 332,857 residents.

This is a county figure, not a parcel figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Lancaster County, NE 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 Lancaster County.

System cost, conventional vs. engineered

Given Lancaster 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.

Where this sits nationally

Nationally, Lancaster County, NE is the 199-most-constrained of 3,058 rated counties for septic soil. Within Nebraska alone it ranks 13 of 93.

Further reading

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