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Fairfield, Ohio
Inside Fairfield's city limits, a shallow water table limits basements on 16% of mapped land. Shrink-swell clay limits houses without basements on 5%, the 5th-highest of 10 cities in Butler County.
That water-table share is below Butler County's 30%. USDA doesn't rate the 28% of mapped land classed as urban land, so these shares are floors. FEMA's flood data list 7 flood losses since 2016 in ZIP code 45014 overlapping the city. Of its 19,548 homes, 56% were built before 1980; the median dates from 1978.
Data as of November 3, 2026 · sources · in Butler 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 Fairfield
Basement waterproofing in Fairfield: a shallow water table limits basements on 16% of Fairfield's mapped land, and the ZIP code overlapping Fairfield logged 7 FEMA flood losses since 2016.
In Butler County, 68% of the 44 flood-loss buildings with a recorded foundation type had basements.
About 10,900 of Fairfield's 19,548 homes are detached houses.
Soil under Fairfield city limits
| Expansive clay (limits slab homes) | 5.1% |
| High water table (limits basements) | 16.0% |
| Septic fields very limited | 61.0% |
| Clay swell (LEP, by area) | 4.0% |
| High-swell land (LEP 6%+) | 2.4% |
| Urban land, not rated | 27.5% |
| Mapped soil | 13,390 acres |
What the numbers mean here
On 16% of Fairfield's mapped land, soil stays saturated within about 6 feet of the surface for part of the year, which is basement depth.
USDA rates 61% of the land very limited for septic absorption fields.
Fairfield covers 20.8 square miles of land and counts 19,548 housing units, about 938 per square mile.
63% of Fairfield's occupied homes are owner-occupied, and the median owner-occupied home is valued at $234,500; 15% of all homes in the city date from 2000 or later.
The largest soil series under Fairfield is Miamian, on 10% of the mapped land, followed by Eldean at 10%.
Clay swell, measured as linear extensibility, averages 4.0% across Fairfield's 13,390 mapped acres.
Drought in Butler County
0% of Butler County is in drought (D1 or worse) on the November 3, 2026 map. County detail.
Flood losses by ZIP code
FEMA flood records since 2016 in the ZIP codes that overlap Fairfield. ZIP areas reach past city limits.
| ZIP | Share of city land | Flood losses | Paid |
|---|---|---|---|
| 45014 | 93% | 7 | $50,324 |
Homes in Fairfield
| Housing units | 19,548 |
| Median year built | 1978 |
| Built before 1980 | 56% |
| Built 2000 or later | 15% |
| Owner-occupied | 63% |
| Median value, owner-occupied | $234,500 |
| Single-family detached | 56% |
Nearby cities
| Place | Distance | Expansive clay | High water table |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forest Park | 3 mi | 3% | 10% |
| Hamilton | 5 mi | 8% | 13% |
| Springdale | 5 mi | under 1% | 1% |
| Greenhills | 5 mi | 11% | 19% |
| Glendale | 6 mi | under 1% | 4% |
| Woodlawn | 6 mi | under 1% | 5% |
| Mount Healthy | 7 mi | 1% | 7% |
| New Miami | 7 mi | 2% | 3% |
Sources: USDA SSURGO (August 5, 2026) · US Drought Monitor (November 3, 2026) · FEMA NFIP v3 (September 9, 2026) · Census ACS 2020-2024. Methods · Data status