HomeSoil seriesKaty
Katy soil series
Katy soils cover 186,154 mapped acres, almost all of them in Texas. 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 12%.
It is the leading soil series by area in 7 of the counties and cities on this site, including Waller County, TX; Austin County, TX.
SSURGO survey versions to August 5, 2026 · series description revised 2019-07
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 Katy series consists of very deep, moderately well drained, moderately slow permeable soils that formed in loamy sediments derived from the Lissie Formation. These nearly level to gently sloping soils are on coastal prairies. Slope ranges from 0 to 3 percent but the majority is less than 1 percent. Mean annual temperature is about 20 degrees C (68 degrees F) and mean annual precipitation is about 1145 mm (49 in).
Source: USDA NRCS series description (OSD) for Katy, revised 2019-07. Read it.
Engineering properties
| Mapped area (SSURGO) | 186,154 acres |
| Shrink-swell limits houses without basements | 0.0% |
| Shallow water table limits basements | 12.3% |
| Very limited for septic absorption fields | 87.8% |
| Most common drainage class | Moderately well drained |
| Most common hydrologic soil group | C |
| Taxonomic class | Fine-loamy, siliceous, semiactive, hyperthermic Typic Paleudalfs |
| Type location | Fort Bend County, Texas |
Where Katy is mapped
| State | Mapped acres |
|---|---|
| Texas | 186,154 |
Places where Katy leads
Counties and cities where Katy covers more mapped land than any other series.
| Place | Share of mapped land |
|---|---|
| Brookshire, TX | 75% |
| Pattison, TX | 62% |
| Katy, TX | 57% |
| Fulshear, TX | 37% |
| Sealy, TX | 28% |
| Waller County, TX | 17% |
| Austin County, TX | 6% |
Other places where Katy is a main soil
Counties and cities where Katy is among the six soil series covering the most mapped land, but not the first. Share of the place's mapped land.
Counties
Texas and Ohio cities
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.