Nicholas County, WV's soil, for a septic absorption field

Very limited

Soil across 97.6% of Nicholas County, WV rates "Very limited" in USDA's septic-absorption-field interpretation. This is the reading that pushes a project toward an engineered system rather than a conventional one, and it covers 97.6% of Nicholas County's land. Nicholas County covers 646.842 square miles and counts 24,017 residents.

This is a county figure, not a parcel figure

Nothing about Nicholas County, WV'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 Nicholas County.

System cost, conventional vs. engineered

Given Nicholas 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 Nicholas County, WV compares

Nationally, Nicholas County, WV is the 304-most-constrained of 3,058 rated counties for septic soil. Within West Virginia alone it ranks 12 of 55.

Further reading

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