HomeSoil seriesFayette
Fayette soil series
Fayette soils cover 2,246,165 mapped acres, mostly in Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota. USDA rates shrink-swell a limit for houses without basements on under 1% of that land, and a shallow water table a limit for basements on 0%.
It is the leading soil series by area in 16 of the counties and cities on this site, including Jackson County, IA; Clayton County, IA; Fillmore County, MN.
SSURGO survey versions to August 5, 2026 · series description revised 2006-09
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 Fayette series consists of very deep, well drained soils formed in loess. These soils are on convex crests, interfluves and side slopes on uplands and on treads and risers on high stream terraces. Slope ranges from 0 to 60 percent. Mean annual air temperature is about 9 degrees C. Mean annual precipitation is about 850 millimeters.
Source: USDA NRCS series description (OSD) for Fayette, revised 2006-09. Read it.
Engineering properties
| Mapped area (SSURGO) | 2,246,165 acres |
| Shrink-swell limits houses without basements | 0.1% |
| Shallow water table limits basements | 0.0% |
| Very limited for septic absorption fields | 81.3% |
| Most common drainage class | Well drained |
| Most common hydrologic soil group | C |
| Taxonomic class | Fine-silty, mixed, superactive, mesic Typic Hapludalfs |
| Type location | Major Land Resource Area (MLRA) 105-Northern Mississippi Valley Loess Hills, Fayette County, Iowa subset |
Where Fayette is mapped
| State | Mapped acres |
|---|---|
| Iowa | 1,261,689 |
| Illinois | 518,849 |
| Minnesota | 273,800 |
| Wisconsin | 191,828 |
Places where Fayette leads
Counties and cities where Fayette covers more mapped land than any other series.
| Place | Share of mapped land |
|---|---|
| Jackson County, IA | 35% |
| Clayton County, IA | 35% |
| Fillmore County, MN | 30% |
| Dubuque County, IA | 24% |
| Jones County, IA | 24% |
| Winneshiek County, IA | 23% |
| Allamakee County, IA | 22% |
| Clinton County, IA | 20% |
| Grant County, WI | 19% |
| Johnson County, IA | 17% |
| Greene County, IL | 16% |
| Winona County, MN | 15% |
| Rock Island County, IL | 14% |
| Jo Daviess County, IL | 13% |
| Jersey County, IL | 12% |
| Houston County, MN | 12% |
Other places where Fayette is a main soil
Counties and cities where Fayette is among the six soil series covering the most mapped land, but not the first. Share of the place's mapped land.
Counties
- Cedar County, IA 15%
- Carroll County, IL 15%
- Tama County, IA 12%
- Brown County, IL 11%
- Fayette County, IA 11%
- Delaware County, IA 10%
- Scott County, IL 9%
- Iowa County, IA 9%
- Schuyler County, IL 8%
- Linn County, IA 8%
- Muscatine County, IA 8%
- Stephenson County, IL 7%
- Lafayette County, WI 6%
- Benton County, IA 6%
- Scott County, IA 5%
- Mercer County, IL 5%
- Louisa County, IA 5%
- Cass County, IL 4%
- Fulton County, IL 4%
- Henry County, IL 4%
- Ogle County, IL 4%
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.