Pennsylvania Soil Drainage Rankings

Pennsylvania

How well does the soil drain across Pennsylvania? We ranked every USDA survey area by the percentage of land classified as "well drained." Areas at the top of the list have soils where water moves through at a healthy rate — favorable for building, septic, and gardening. Areas at the bottom have more waterlogged or slowly-draining soils that may require engineered solutions.

The best-drained survey area is Dauphin County, Pennsylvania at 86% well-drained soils. The most drainage-challenged is Erie County, Pennsylvania at 7%. 67% of the land in Erie County, Pennsylvania is poorly drained, so building, septic and gardening there often call for drainage work, engineered septic designs or raised beds.

stays wet (poorly drained)in between, or not ratedwell drained

#	Survey Area	Well Drained	Poorly Drained	Most common class
1	Dauphin County, Pennsylvania	86%	4%	Well drained
2	Lancaster County, Pennsylvania	86%	3%	Well drained
3	Lehigh County, Pennsylvania	83%	6%	Well drained
4	Cumberland County, Pennsylvania	81%	8%	Well drained
5	Berks County, Pennsylvania	81%	9%	Well drained
6	Mifflin County, Pennsylvania	80%	8%	Well drained
7	Perry County, Pennsylvania	78%	4%	Well drained
8	Chester County, Pennsylvania	77%	10%	Well drained
9	Blair County, Pennsylvania	77%	5%	Well drained
10	Cameron County, Pennsylvania	77%	1%	Well drained
11	Lycoming County, Pennsylvania	77%	3%	Well drained
12	Delaware County, Pennsylvania	76%	8%	Well drained
13	Juniata County, Pennsylvania	75%	10%	Well drained
14	Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania	74%	16%	Well drained
15	Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania	74%	7%	Well drained
16	Northampton County, Pennsylvania	74%	10%	Well drained
17	Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania	73%	4%	Well drained
18	Lebanon County, Pennsylvania	73%	9%	Well drained
19	Centre County, Pennsylvania	71%	8%	Well drained
20	Clinton County, Pennsylvania	70%	2%	Well drained
21	Carbon County, Pennsylvania	70%	8%	Well drained
22	Bedford County, Pennsylvania	70%	5%	Well drained
23	Columbia County, Pennsylvania	69%	5%	Well drained
24	Union County, Pennsylvania	68%	10%	Well drained
25	Armstrong County, Pennsylvania	65%	6%	Well drained
26	Beaver County, Pennsylvania	65%	9%	Well drained
27	Indiana County, Pennsylvania	64%	7%	Well drained
28	Clearfield County, Pennsylvania	64%	5%	Well drained
29	Somerset County, Pennsylvania	63%	14%	Well drained
30	Potter County, Pennsylvania	62%	5%	Well drained
31	Allegheny County, Pennsylvania	61%	4%	Well drained
32	Jefferson County, Pennsylvania	60%	15%	Well drained
33	Northumberland County, Pennsylvania	60%	7%	Well drained
34	Fulton County, Pennsylvania	59%	3%	Well drained
35	York County, Pennsylvania	59%	6%	Well drained
36	Franklin County, Pennsylvania	58%	7%	Well drained
37	Luzerne County, Pennsylvania	53%	12%	Well drained
38	Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania	52%	4%	Well drained
39	Tioga County, Pennsylvania	52%	31%	Well drained
40	Adams County, Pennsylvania	51%	30%	Well drained
41	Fayette County, Pennsylvania	51%	4%	Well drained
42	Snyder County, Pennsylvania	50%	9%	Well drained
43	Clarion County, Pennsylvania	49%	16%	Well drained
44	Butler County, Pennsylvania	48%	21%	Well drained
45	Pike County, Pennsylvania	48%	17%	Well drained
46	Elk County, Pennsylvania	46%	11%	Well drained
47	Monroe County, Pennsylvania	46%	19%	Well drained
48	Cambria County, Pennsylvania	45%	15%	Well drained
49	Wyoming County, Pennsylvania	44%	20%	Well drained
50	Montour County, Pennsylvania	41%	17%	Well drained
51	Forest County, Pennsylvania	40%	9%	Moderately well drained
52	Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania	38%	33%	Well drained
53	Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania	38%	30%	Well drained
54	Warren County, Pennsylvania	33%	33%	Well drained
55	Lawrence County, Pennsylvania	32%	35%	Well drained
56	Bucks County, Pennsylvania	31%	47%	Well drained
57	Sullivan County, Pennsylvania	30%	22%	Well drained
58	McKean County, Pennsylvania	30%	4%	Moderately well drained
59	Montgomery County, Pennsylvania	29%	22%	Moderately well drained
60	Wayne County, Pennsylvania	26%	30%	Moderately well drained
61	Bradford County, Pennsylvania	22%	47%	Somewhat poorly drained
62	Venango County, Pennsylvania	22%	22%	Moderately well drained
63	Washington County, Pennsylvania	19%	5%	Moderately well drained
64	Crawford County, Pennsylvania	10%	65%	Somewhat poorly drained
65	Mercer County, Pennsylvania	10%	70%	Somewhat poorly drained
66	Greene County, Pennsylvania	8%	6%	Moderately well drained
67	Erie County, Pennsylvania	7%	67%	Somewhat poorly drained