Scott County's SSURGO septic rating

Very limited

USDA puts Scott County, IA at "Very limited" for septic absorption fields, the dominant reading across 90% 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: 458.101 square miles and 175,601 people call Scott County home.

Before you rely on this for one lot

Nothing about Scott County, IA's SSURGO figure applies to a specific address - it's a county-wide average. 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 Scott County, IA

Scott 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, Scott County, IA ranks 1,264 most-constrained nationally, and 73 of 99 within Iowa.

Before you act on this

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