Mississippi / DeSoto County
Score 37 · moderate · #35 of 82 in MS
Crawl space moisture in DeSoto County, MS
DeSoto County scores moderate: no single wet-soil signal dominates its mapped acres. Where a seasonal water table is reported — 67% of acres — it averages 2 ft below grade.
- 1Water table 2 ft
- 2Wet soils 20%
- 3Moisture score 37
- 4EPA radon zone 3
Reading the DeSoto County soil survey
The score of 37 combines four parts, each from the USDA survey: wet drainage classes contribute 36.6 points of 100 on their own scale, group D soils 32.5, a shallow water table 46.2, and flooding 22.6; the weights are on the methodology page. The dominant hydrologic group is C (51% of acres): slow infiltration (clay layers).
At 2 ft the seasonal water table is usually below a crawl-space floor, but the 67% 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.
DeSoto County against the rest of Mississippi
DeSoto County ranks 35 of 82 Mississippi counties, 2 points above the state median of 35. That places it in the middle range, nationally and for the state. Statewide, 35% of mapped soil is in the wet drainage classes; here it is 20%, below the state figure — the score here comes from a shallow water table rather than drainage class alone. After moderately well drained, the next most common class is well drained at 15%.
Flooding. 2.9% of acres with a flooding class are rated frequent; 30.4% of acres with a flooding class are rated occasional; 7.1% 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.
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. EPA radon zone 3. The zone is a county-level prediction; EPA says elevated levels occur in every zone and every home should be tested.
Near DeSoto County by score
Sources: USDA NRCS SSURGO via Soil Data Access (muaggatt: drclassdcd, hydgrpdcd, flodfreqdcd, pondfreqprs, wtdepannmin), acreage-weighted (survey area MS033; drainage covers 77% of 316,700 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.