Septic soil in Newport County, RI, by the numbers

Very limited

71.7% of Newport County, RI's surveyed soil comes back "Very limited" in USDA's own SSURGO data, the county's dominant condition for a septic absorption field. Expect the ground itself to work against a plain gravity system; USDA's strictest bucket alone covers 71.7% of the county. Newport County, RI is 102.431 square miles with a population of 83,468.

What Newport County's reading doesn't cover

USDA's survey covers the whole of Newport County, RI at once, not any single address. A local percolation test, typically $750-$1,850 (around $1,300 typical), is the only way to know what one lot in Newport County will actually do.

What a system would cost here

With 71.7% of Newport County rating "Very limited", a standard gravity system is not a safe assumption here. 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, Newport County, RI is the 2,413-most-constrained of 3,058 rated counties for septic soil. Within Rhode Island alone it ranks 4 of 5.

Before you act on this

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