Kansas / Rice County
Score 21 · moderate · #43 of 105 in KS
Crawl space moisture in Rice County, KS
Rice County scores moderate: no single wet-soil signal dominates its mapped acres. Where a seasonal water table is reported — 19% of acres — it averages 2.1 ft below grade.
- 1Water table 2.1 ft
- 2Wet soils 19%
- 3Moisture score 21
- 4EPA radon zone 1
Reading the Rice County soil survey
The score of 21 combines four parts, each from the USDA survey: wet drainage classes contribute 25.4 points of 100 on their own scale, group D soils 26.8, a shallow water table 12.5, and flooding 7.1; the weights are on the methodology page. The dominant hydrologic group is C (60% of acres): slow infiltration (clay layers).
At 2.1 ft the seasonal water table is usually below a crawl-space floor, but the 19% of acres that report one are by definition the wettest parts of the county; on those lots, a wet spring can bring water close to the footings.
Rice County against the rest of Kansas
Rice County ranks 43 of 105 Kansas counties, 8 points above the state median of 13. That places it in the middle range, nationally and for the state. Statewide, 8% of mapped soil is in the wet drainage classes; here it is 19%, half again the state figure or more. After well drained, the next most common class is moderately well drained at 38%.
Flooding. 0.9% of acres with a flooding class are rated frequent; 8.1% of acres with a flooding class are rated occasional; 6.6% of acres with a flooding class are rated rare. That is a large flood-prone share; a crawl space in the floodplain needs flood vents under most local floodplain ordinances, which is a separate rule from R408 and can rule out a fully sealed design. Ponding — water standing at the surface with nowhere to go — affects 66% of acres.
What it means for a crawl space here
In a moderate county the soil record is mixed rather than uniformly wet, so conditions vary from lot to lot. Where the lot drains, the model-code default — a vented crawl space with 1 sq ft of net vent per 150 sq ft of floor, or 1 per 1500 with a Class I vapor retarder on the ground — is a reasonable starting point; where the sections above point to a shallow water table or flood-prone soil on your lot, plan as for an elevated county. Either way, check the site first: grading that falls away from the foundation, gutters and downspouts that discharge well clear of it, and a ground cover over bare earth. A wet crawl space in a moderate county points to one of those first.
Radon. Rice County is in EPA radon zone 1, the highest predicted potential. A sealed crawl space and a radon system share most of their parts — the liner, the sealed seams, a fan — so if you are encapsulating, test for radon first and design both together. EPA itself says the zone map is not a reason to skip testing in zones 2 and 3.
Near Rice County by score
Sources: USDA NRCS SSURGO via Soil Data Access (muaggatt: drclassdcd, hydgrpdcd, flodfreqdcd, pondfreqprs, wtdepannmin), acreage-weighted (survey area KS159; drainage covers 100% of 465,959 mapped acres); EPA Map of Radon Zones, county table (June 2024 JSON); IRC R408.3 Unvented crawl space, as adopted in S.C. Code Regs. 8-1221 (LII). Checked 2026-10-23.