HomeSoil seriesBerks
Berks soil series
Berks soils cover 3,241,077 mapped acres, mostly in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Virginia. USDA rates shrink-swell a limit for houses without basements on 0% of that land, and a shallow water table a limit for basements on under 1%.
It is the leading soil series by area in 26 of the counties and cities on this site, including Hancock County, WV; Wyoming County, WV; Hardy County, WV.
SSURGO survey versions to August 5, 2026 · series description revised 1999-09
of its land: shrink-swell limits houses without basements
of its land: a shallow water table limits basements
median highest linear extensibility (6% and up is high)
median highest clay content in the top 150 cm
USDA's description
The Berks series consists of moderately deep, well drained soils formed in residuum weathered from shale, siltstone and fine grained sandstone on rounded and dissected uplands. Slope ranges from 0 to 80 percent. Permeability is moderate or moderately rapid. Mean annual precipitation is 42 inches. Mean annual temperature is 52 degrees F.
Source: USDA NRCS series description (OSD) for Berks, revised 1999-09. Read it.
Engineering properties
| Mapped area (SSURGO) | 3,241,077 acres |
| Shrink-swell limits houses without basements | 0.0% |
| Shallow water table limits basements | under 0.1% |
| Very limited for septic absorption fields | 97.3% |
| Most common drainage class | Well drained |
| Most common hydrologic soil group | B |
| Taxonomic class | Loamy-skeletal, mixed, active, mesic Typic Dystrudepts |
| Type location | Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Weisenberg Township, 1 mile south and east on T624 from New Smithville and 200 feet north of road. |
Where Berks is mapped
| State | Mapped acres |
|---|---|
| West Virginia | 991,130 |
| Pennsylvania | 846,454 |
| Virginia | 655,635 |
| Ohio | 390,436 |
| Kentucky | 169,860 |
| Indiana | 99,337 |
| Illinois | 43,942 |
| Maryland | 23,087 |
| Tennessee | 15,856 |
| New Jersey | 5,339 |
Places where Berks leads
Counties and cities where Berks covers more mapped land than any other series.
Other places where Berks is a main soil
Counties and cities where Berks is among the six soil series covering the most mapped land, but not the first. Share of the place's mapped land.
Counties
- McDowell County, WV 40%
- Frederick County, VA 21%
- Summers County, WV 20%
- Mercer County, WV 19%
- Morgan County, WV 19%
- Rowan County, KY 19%
- Alleghany County, VA 18%
- Mineral County, WV 17%
- Berkeley County, WV 15%
- Montour County, PA 14%
- Bath County, VA 14%
- Russell County, VA 14%
- Columbiana County, OH 14%
- Carroll County, OH 13%
- Warren County, VA 12%
- Cumberland County, PA 12%
- Tuscarawas County, OH 12%
- Fayette County, WV 12%
- Shenandoah County, VA 12%
- Augusta County, VA 12%
- Scott County, VA 11%
- Northumberland County, PA 10%
- Radford city, VA 10%
- Perry County, PA 10%
- Jefferson County, OH 10%
- Greenup County, KY 10%
- Bland County, VA 10%
- Greenbrier County, WV 10%
- Raleigh County, WV 9%
- Tucker County, WV 9%
- Union County, TN 9%
- Rockingham County, VA 9%
- Tazewell County, VA 9%
- Botetourt County, VA 8%
- Morgan County, IN 8%
- Noble County, OH 8%
- Lee County, VA 8%
- Blair County, PA 8%
- Mifflin County, PA 8%
- Dauphin County, PA 8%
- Guernsey County, OH 7%
- Johnson County, IL 7%
- Franklin County, PA 7%
- Randolph County, WV 7%
- Scioto County, OH 7%
- Menifee County, KY 6%
- Powell County, KY 6%
- Allegany County, MD 6%
- Snyder County, PA 6%
- Muskingum County, OH 6%
- Boone County, WV 6%
- Pope County, IL 6%
- Schuylkill County, PA 6%
- Hardin County, IL 5%
- Adams County, OH 5%
- Hocking County, OH 5%
- Centre County, PA 5%
- Smyth County, VA 5%
- Gallia County, OH 4%
- Mingo County, WV 3%
- Preston County, WV 3%
- Staunton city, VA 2%
- Winchester city, VA 1%
Texas and Ohio cities
- Irondale, OH 17%
- Richmond, OH 17%
- Amsterdam, OH 16%
- Fredericksburg, OH 16%
- Caldwell, OH 15%
- Empire, OH 14%
- Mount Pleasant, OH 13%
- Bowerston, OH 12%
- Dennison, OH 11%
- New Athens, OH 10%
- Pleasant City, OH 8%
- Stratton, OH 8%
- Burbank, OH 8%
- Hopedale, OH 8%
- Bergholz, OH 7%
- Quaker City, OH 7%
- Uhrichsville, OH 7%
- Cadiz, OH 7%
- Wintersville, OH 7%
- Wellsville, OH 6%
- Chesterhill, OH 6%
- Wooster, OH 6%
- Lisbon, OH 6%
- Mingo Junction, OH 6%
- Bethesda, OH 5%
- New Alexandria, OH 5%
- Belmont, OH 5%
- Glouster, OH 5%
- South Zanesville, OH 5%
- Athens, OH 5%
- Portsmouth, OH 5%
- Flushing, OH 5%
- Murray City, OH 5%
- Cambridge, OH 4%
- Steubenville, OH 4%
- Gnadenhutten, OH 4%
- Barnhill, OH 4%
- Carrollton, OH 4%
- St. Clairsville, OH 3%
- Barnesville, OH 3%
- Old Washington, OH 3%
- Morristown, OH 2%
- Trimble, OH 2%
- Stockport, OH 2%
- Leetonia, OH 1%
Sources
Shares and properties: USDA NRCS SSURGO via Soil Data Access, weighted by each component's share of its map units. Description: the USDA NRCS series description. How we count.