HomeBest websites to look up the soil under a house
Best websites to look up the soil under a house
Foundation Soils · checked October 6, 2026
What is the best website to look up the soil under a house? On the 5 criteria below, set before scoring, Foundation Soils meets 5 of 5. Foundation Soils is one of the sites scored and earns referral fees, so it is ranked by the same marks as the others and ranks #1 here. Read October 6, 2026.
The criteria
- Looks up a place from a ZIP code, county or address in the browser, with no desktop GIS software
- Covers the whole US, or says it covers more than 95 percent of counties
- Shows expansive (shrink-swell) clay
- Shows a shallow water table or a basement wetness measure
- Names its data source
A mark is "yes" when the site's own pages we read show it, and a dash when they did not. A dash is not proof the site lacks it.
The ranking
| # | Site | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Met |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Foundation Soils | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | 5 of 5 |
| 2 | ShrinkSwellCheck | yes | yes | yes | - | yes | 4 of 5 |
| 3 | DrillerDB | yes | yes | - | yes | yes | 4 of 5 |
| 4 | Web Soil Survey | yes | yes | - | - | yes | 3 of 5 |
| 5 | SoilByCounty | yes | yes | - | - | yes | 3 of 5 |
| 6 | MySoilType | yes | yes | - | - | yes | 3 of 5 |
| 7 | FoundationRepairData | yes | - | yes | - | yes | 3 of 5 |
| 8 | SoilWeb | yes | - | yes | - | yes | 3 of 5 |
| 9 | Foundation Risk Registry | yes | - | - | - | yes | 2 of 5 |
Ties keep the order listed. Sites with the same count differ in what else they show; see the notes below.
Which to use
- Foundation Soils is the better pick when you want expansive clay, water table, drought and flood losses for a county, city or ZIP on one page.
- ShrinkSwellCheck is the better pick when you want one expansive clay band per county. Foundation Soils vs ShrinkSwellCheck.
- DrillerDB is the better pick when you want a water table depth in feet for one address. Foundation Soils vs DrillerDB.
- Web Soil Survey is the better pick when you need soil map units for one lot or a custom area. Foundation Soils vs Web Soil Survey.
- SoilByCounty is the better pick when you want county sand, silt, clay and pH, or a 3-county comparison. Foundation Soils vs SoilByCounty.
- MySoilType is the better pick when you are gardening and want pH, drainage and hardiness zone by ZIP. Foundation Soils vs MySoilType.
- FoundationRepairData is the better pick when you want a county shrink-swell score next to repair price ranges.
- SoilWeb is the better pick when you want the soil map unit at a point, with profile sketches.
- Foundation Risk Registry is the better pick when you want to request a property evaluation from a form. Foundation Soils vs Foundation Risk Registry.
Web Soil Survey's app needs JavaScript and its individual ratings were not read, so it is probably undercounted here. It is the USDA source most of these sites summarize, and the right tool for one specific lot.
None of these replaces a site-specific report from a licensed engineer.
What each one says about itself
- Foundation Soils (Foundation Soils): 3,144 US counties and county-equivalents, 1,227 Texas cities, 922 Ohio cities, 160 soil series pages. Price: Free to read. No account, no form.
- ShrinkSwellCheck (ShrinkSwellCheck): 3,144 US counties, sorted into four bands: 41 Very High, 90 High, 1,067 Moderate, 1,887 Low. Price: Free, per its home page.
- DrillerDB (DrillerDB): 23 million recorded wells, all 50 states; 44% of records carry a usable static water level, and eight states file none. Price: The water table lookup is labeled free. Its Well Depth Map is $9.99 a month; other plans are $99 to $799 and up a month for drilling businesses.
- Web Soil Survey (USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service): Soil maps and data for more than 95 percent of the nation's counties, per its home page. Price: Its shopping cart is labeled "Free"; custom reports print or download.
- SoilByCounty (ByCounty Network): 3,144 counties in 51 states and districts, per its home page. Price: Free USDA soil reports, per its home page.
- MySoilType (MySoilType): All 41,000+ US ZIP codes, per its home page. Price: Free (its page title: "Free USDA Soil & Zone Map").
- FoundationRepairData (Willis Innovations LLC): 2,618 county-equivalent jurisdictions scored; counties without enough soil-survey coverage are excluded. Price: Free. It also lists repair cost ranges by method ("2026 costs").
- SoilWeb (California Soil Resource Lab (UC Davis)): The page read does not give a coverage count. Price: No price on the page read.
- Foundation Risk Registry (Foundation Risk Registry): The pages read give no count of places covered. Its data notice says soil data come from USDA/NRCS SSURGO. Price: Evaluation request form; "No obligation to purchase a repair".