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Fairfax, Ohio
Inside Fairfax's city limits, a shallow water table limits basements on 1% of mapped land. Shrink-swell clay limits houses without basements on 5%.
That water-table share is below Hamilton County's 9%. USDA doesn't rate the 56% of mapped land classed as urban land, so these shares are floors. FEMA's flood data list 16 flood losses since 2016 in ZIP code 45227 overlapping the city. Of its 752 homes, 91% were built before 1980; the median dates from 1942.
Data as of October 13, 2026 · sources · in Hamilton County
expansive clay: shrink-swell limits slab homes
high water table: limits basements
flood losses since 2016 in 1 overlapping ZIP
of homes built before 1980
Basement waterproofing in Fairfax
Basement waterproofing in Fairfax: a shallow water table limits basements on 1% of Fairfax's mapped land, and the ZIP code overlapping Fairfax logged 16 FEMA flood losses since 2016.
In Hamilton County, 52% of the 251 flood-loss buildings with a recorded foundation type had basements.
About 700 of Fairfax's 752 homes are detached houses.
Soil under Fairfax city limits
| Expansive clay (limits slab homes) | 4.5% |
| High water table (limits basements) | 1.3% |
| Septic fields very limited | 11.7% |
| Clay swell (LEP, by area) | 4.4% |
| High-swell land (LEP 6%+) | 4.5% |
| Urban land, not rated | 55.5% |
| Mapped soil | 496 acres |
| Soil series | Share here | Series nationally: high water table |
|---|---|---|
| Bonnell | 3% | n/a |
| Genesee | 3% | n/a |
| Martinsville | 1% | n/a |
| Eden | 1% | 0% |
| Pate | 1% | n/a |
| Cincinnati | 1% | n/a |
What the numbers mean here
With shrink-swell clay on 5% and a shallow water table on 1% of the land, the soil survey points to neither problem across most of Fairfax; conditions still vary lot by lot.
Drought in Hamilton County
0% of Hamilton County is in drought (D1 or worse) on the October 13, 2026 map. County detail.
Flood losses by ZIP code
FEMA flood records since 2016 in the ZIP codes that overlap Fairfax. ZIP areas reach past city limits.
| ZIP | Share of city land | Flood losses | Paid |
|---|---|---|---|
| 45227 | 97% | 16 | $88,431 |
Homes in Fairfax
| Housing units | 752 |
| Median year built | 1942 |
| Built before 1980 | 91% |
| Built 2000 or later | 6% |
| Owner-occupied | 74% |
| Median value, owner-occupied | $245,900 |
| Single-family detached | 88% |
Nearby cities
Sources: USDA SSURGO (August 5, 2026) · US Drought Monitor (October 13, 2026) · FEMA NFIP v3 (September 9, 2026) · Census ACS 2020-2024. Methods · Data status