HomeSoil seriesWilliams
Williams soil series
Williams soils cover 4,431,056 mapped acres, mostly in North Dakota, Montana and South Dakota. 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 17 of the counties and cities on this site, including Faulk County, SD; Sheridan County, MT; Williams County, ND.
SSURGO survey versions to August 5, 2026
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 Williams series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately slow or slowly permeable soils formed in calcareous glacial till. These soils are on glacial till plains and moraines and have slope of 0 to 35 percent. Mean annual air temperature is about 40 degrees F, and mean annual precipitation is about 14 inches.
Source: USDA NRCS series description (OSD) for Williams. Read it.
Engineering properties
| Mapped area (SSURGO) | 4,431,056 acres |
| Shrink-swell limits houses without basements | 0.0% |
| Shallow water table limits basements | 0.0% |
| Very limited for septic absorption fields | 41.1% |
| Most common drainage class | Well drained |
| Most common hydrologic soil group | B |
| Taxonomic class | Fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, frigid Typic Argiustolls |
| Type location | Mountrail County, North Dakota |
Where Williams is mapped
| State | Mapped acres |
|---|---|
| North Dakota | 2,738,234 |
| Montana | 951,089 |
| South Dakota | 741,733 |
Places where Williams leads
Counties and cities where Williams covers more mapped land than any other series.
Other places where Williams is a main soil
Counties and cities where Williams is among the six soil series covering the most mapped land, but not the first. Share of the place's mapped land.
Counties
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.