What Pendleton County, WV's soil rates for a septic system

Very limited

Soil across 95.6% of Pendleton County, WV rates "Very limited" in USDA's septic-absorption-field interpretation. 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. Pendleton County covers 696.05 square miles and counts 5,944 residents.

This is a county figure, not a parcel figure

Pendleton County's rating is an average across the whole county, not a promise about any one lot inside it. A site-specific perc test, usually $750-$1,850, is what a health department will actually require before permitting a lot in Pendleton County.

System cost, conventional vs. engineered

Given Pendleton 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, Pendleton County, WV is the 587-most-constrained of 3,058 rated counties for septic soil. Within West Virginia alone it ranks 26 of 55.

Before you act on this

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