Ulster County, NY's soil, for a septic absorption field

Very limited

Soil across 89.6% of Ulster County, NY 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. Ulster County covers 1,124.236 square miles and counts 182,977 residents.

This is a county figure, not a parcel figure

Nothing about Ulster County, NY'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 Ulster County.

System cost, conventional vs. engineered

Given Ulster 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.

Ulster County's rank among New York counties

Nationally, Ulster County, NY is the 1,307-most-constrained of 3,058 rated counties for septic soil. Within New York alone it ranks 35 of 61.

Before you act on this

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