Monterey County's SSURGO septic rating

Very limited

Monterey County, CA's SSURGO dominant class comes back "Very limited", covering 91.7% of the county. This is the reading that pushes a project toward an engineered system rather than a conventional one, and it covers 91.7% of Monterey County's land. For scale: 3,281.718 square miles and 436,251 people call Monterey County home.

Before you rely on this for one lot

Monterey County's rating is an average across the whole county, not a promise about any one lot inside it. The real answer for one lot is still a site-specific perc test, running about $750-$1,850 (typically near $1,300).

Budgeting for a system in Monterey County, CA

Monterey County's soil reading pushes the likely outcome toward an engineered system rather than a conventional one. Conventional systems run $3,000-$8,000 where they pass; where they don't, engineered alternatives (mound or aerobic treatment, whichever the health department requires) run $10,000-$40,000 - budget toward the higher figure until a perc test says otherwise.

Where this sits nationally

Among the 3,058 rated counties on this site, Monterey County, CA ranks 1,071 most-constrained nationally, and 29 of 57 within California.

Before you act on this

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