Delaware: basement moisture and foundation risk by county
3 counties, ranked by our combined index. Highest combined risk is Sussex County (37), lowest is Kent County (33). The worst soil for foundation cracks specifically is in Sussex County.
Where in Delaware the ground is worse
Every county in the state, coloured by the soil values below. Click a county to open its report; switch what the colour means with the buttons. The pattern is geology, not administration — risk stops at the edge of a physiographic region, not at a county line.
- Low (0–27)
- Moderate (28–49)
- Elevated (50–74)
- High (75–100)
County boundaries: US Census TIGER (public domain), simplified for display. Colours are our index from USDA SSURGO fields where loaded, otherwise from our regional model — each county page states which. How the index is calculated.
| County | Index | Moisture | Cracks | Water table | Region |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sussex County | 37 | 43 | 23 | 46 | Atlantic coastal plain |
| New Castle County | 35 | 43 | 16 | 46 | Atlantic coastal plain |
| Kent County | 33 | 39 | 16 | 46 | Atlantic coastal plain |
Values from USDA NRCS SSURGO where available, otherwise our regional model — each county page states which. Methodology.
The physiographic regions inside Delaware
State lines are political; soil follows geology. These are the distinct ground types inside Delaware and why each behaves the way it does.
Atlantic coastal plain
Extremely variable over short distances: sand and saturated clay side by side. A county figure means less here than anywhere else we cover — the individual parcel decides.
3 counties: Kent County, New Castle County, Sussex County
Page data updated