What SSURGO Soil Data Actually Tells You

Most buyers find out about the soil after they've already made an offer. It comes up in due diligence, during septic design, or sometimes not until money has already moved. That's never a good time to find out the ground won't cooperate.

The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service has been mapping soil across the country since the 1890s. SSURGO, the Soil Survey Geographic Database, is what that work produced: the most complete public soil record available, built by field scientists who dug profile pits, described what they found in the ground, and mapped it county by county.

Every AcreLogic report pulls SSURGO drainage class, hydric status, and septic suitability for the parcel. Drainage class tells you how freely water moves through the soil. Hydric status tells you whether wetland conditions are likely underfoot. Septic suitability gives you a first read on whether the ground will work for a conventional system or whether you're looking at something more involved.

A perc test gives you the site-specific answer, and you'll want one when the time comes. That's a job for a licensed engineer on the ground. What SSURGO gives you is the soil story that's been there since long before any listing went up. If the profile shows poorly drained or hydric conditions, that's worth knowing before you've put any time into a parcel.