Missouri / Cass County
Score 52 · elevated · #31 of 113 in MO
Crawl space moisture in Cass County, MO
68% of Cass County's soil falls in hydrologic group D or a dual D group: clays and high water tables that shed water slowly. Where a seasonal water table is reported — 81% of acres — it averages 1.7 ft below grade, shallow enough to reach a typical crawl-space footing.
- 1Water table 1.7 ft
- 2Wet soils 38%
- 3Moisture score 52
- 4EPA radon zone 1
Reading the Cass County soil survey
The score of 52 combines four parts, each from the USDA survey: wet drainage classes contribute 47.1 points of 100 on their own scale, group D soils 67.1, a shallow water table 59.9, and flooding 10.7; the weights are on the methodology page. The dominant hydrologic group is D (47% of acres): very slow infiltration, high runoff (clays, high water table).
A water table under two feet is the single most important number here. A crawl-space floor is usually 18 to 36 inches below the joists and often below outside grade, so in a wet season groundwater can stand at or above the crawl-space floor across much of Cass County. Venting cannot fix that; it needs drainage — a perimeter drain to daylight or a sump — before any liner goes down.
Cass County against the rest of Missouri
Cass County ranks 31 of 113 Missouri counties, 13 points above the state median of 39. Wetter counties exist in Missouri, but the soil here still sits well above the national middle. Statewide, 32% of mapped soil is in the wet drainage classes; here it is 38%. After moderately well drained, the next most common class is poorly drained at 20%.
Flooding. 3.9% of acres with a flooding class are rated frequent; 10.9% of acres with a flooding class are rated occasional; 1.6% 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.
What it means for a crawl space here
In an elevated county the soil supplies more moisture than average, but a vented crawl space can work if the ground is covered: the code lets vent area drop from 1 sq ft per 150 to 1 per 1500 with a Class I vapor retarder on the ground, which is an admission of how much moisture comes from below. Grading, gutters and a ground cover usually decide whether a crawl space here stays dry before any decision about sealing it.
Radon. Cass 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 Cass County by score
Sources: USDA NRCS SSURGO via Soil Data Access (muaggatt: drclassdcd, hydgrpdcd, flodfreqdcd, pondfreqprs, wtdepannmin), acreage-weighted (survey area MO037; drainage covers 100% of 449,497 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.