HomeSoil seriesOshtemo
Oshtemo soil series
Oshtemo soils cover 819,169 mapped acres, mostly in Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin. 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 0%.
It is the leading soil series by area in 13 of the counties and cities on this site, including St. Joseph County, MI; Calhoun County, MI; Barry County, MI.
SSURGO survey versions to August 5, 2026 · series description revised 2017-07
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 Oshtemo series consists of very deep, well drained soils formed in stratified loamy and sandy deposits on outwash plains, valley trains, moraines, and beach ridges. Slope ranges from 0 to 55 percent. Mean annual precipitation is about 838 mm (33 inches), and mean annual temperature is about 10.0 degrees C (50 degrees F).
Source: USDA NRCS series description (OSD) for Oshtemo, revised 2017-07. Read it.
Engineering properties
| Mapped area (SSURGO) | 819,169 acres |
| Shrink-swell limits houses without basements | 0.0% |
| Shallow water table limits basements | 0.0% |
| Very limited for septic absorption fields | 99.2% |
| Most common drainage class | Well drained |
| Most common hydrologic soil group | A |
| Taxonomic class | Coarse-loamy, mixed, active, mesic Typic Hapludalfs |
| Type location | St. Joseph County, Michigan |
Where Oshtemo is mapped
| State | Mapped acres |
|---|---|
| Michigan | 602,311 |
| Indiana | 128,918 |
| Wisconsin | 44,827 |
| Ohio | 43,109 |
| Pennsylvania | 4 |
Places where Oshtemo leads
Counties and cities where Oshtemo covers more mapped land than any other series.
| Place | Share of mapped land |
|---|---|
| Bratenahl, OH | 44% |
| St. Joseph County, MI | 29% |
| Benton Ridge, OH | 24% |
| Edgerton, OH | 24% |
| Brooklyn Heights, OH | 18% |
| Waite Hill, OH | 18% |
| Calhoun County, MI | 17% |
| Berlin Heights, OH | 15% |
| Barry County, MI | 15% |
| Berrien County, MI | 12% |
| Valley View, OH | 11% |
| Van Buren County, MI | 9% |
| Cuyahoga Heights, OH | 6% |
Other places where Oshtemo is a main soil
Counties and cities where Oshtemo is among the six soil series covering the most mapped land, but not the first. Share of the place's mapped land.
Counties
- Kalamazoo County, MI 18%
- Cass County, MI 16%
- LaGrange County, IN 12%
- Marshall County, IN 11%
- Marquette County, WI 8%
- St. Joseph County, IN 8%
- Jackson County, MI 6%
- Branch County, MI 5%
- Oakland County, MI 5%
- Allegan County, MI 5%
Texas and Ohio cities
- Magnolia, OH 13%
- Clinton, OH 13%
- Lyons, OH 9%
- North Olmsted, OH 8%
- Sugar Bush Knolls, OH 6%
- Norwalk, OH 6%
- Green, OH 6%
- Bentleyville, OH 6%
- Kirtland Hills, OH 6%
- Newton Falls, OH 5%
- Walton Hills, OH 5%
- Lakewood, OH 4%
- Willoughby Hills, OH 3%
- Akron, OH 3%
- North Fairfield, OH 2%
- New Franklin, OH 2%
- Cleveland, OH 2%
- Newburgh Heights, OH 1%
- Garfield Heights, OH 1%
- Maple Heights, 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.