Morrow County, OR: the USDA septic-suitability picture

Very limited

USDA puts Morrow County, OR at "Very limited" for septic absorption fields, the dominant reading across 78.8% of the county's soil. 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. For scale: 2,030.529 square miles and 12,360 people call Morrow County home.

Before you rely on this for one lot

This is a countywide, area-weighted figure across every soil survey map unit in Morrow County, OR - never a reading for one specific parcel. 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 Morrow County, OR

Morrow 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, Morrow County, OR ranks 2,105 most-constrained nationally, and 33 of 36 within Oregon.

Before you act on this

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