Nebraska / Hall County

Score 22 · moderate · #13 of 93 in NE

Crawl space moisture in Hall County, NE

Hall County scores moderate: no single wet-soil signal dominates its mapped acres. Where a seasonal water table is reported — 35% of acres — it averages 2.1 ft below grade.

Size venting or encapsulation

1234
  1. 1Water table 2.1 ft
  2. 2Wet soils 23%
  3. 3Moisture score 22
  4. 4EPA radon zone 2
Excessively10%Somewhat excessively2%Well43%Moderately well22%Somewhat poorly19%Poorly4%Very poorly0%
Share of mapped soil acres in Hall County, NE by NRCS drainage class (dominant condition), bars to scale; wetter classes highlighted. Covers 99% of mapped acres.
Dominant drainage
Well drained
43% of acres
Group D soils
8%
slow infiltration
Flood-prone acres
25%
any flooding frequency
Ponding
13.8%
acres where water ponds

Reading the Hall County soil survey

The score of 22 combines four parts, each from the USDA survey: wet drainage classes contribute 24.2 points of 100 on their own scale, group D soils 20.7, a shallow water table 24, and flooding 11.2; the weights are on the methodology page. The dominant hydrologic group is C (52% of acres): slow infiltration (clay layers).

14%A27%B52%C1%D1%A/D3%B/D3%C/D
Hydrologic soil groups in Hall County by share of acres, columns to scale. Group D and dual groups (x/D) shed water slowly and hold it near the surface.

At 2.1 ft the seasonal water table is usually below a crawl-space floor, but the 35% 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.

Hall County against the rest of Nebraska

Hall County ranks 13 of 93 Nebraska counties, 12 points above the state median of 10. That puts it in the wettest quarter of the state. Statewide, 9% of mapped soil is in the wet drainage classes; here it is 23%, half again the state figure or more. After well drained, the next most common class is moderately well drained at 22%.

Flooding. 3.6% of acres with a flooding class are rated frequent; 8.4% of acres with a flooding class are rated occasional; 9.3% of acres with a flooding class are rated rare; 3.6% of acres with a flooding class are rated very 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 13.8% 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. EPA radon zone 2. The zone is a county-level prediction; EPA says elevated levels occur in every zone and every home should be tested.

Near Hall County by score

All 93 Nebraska counties

Sources: USDA NRCS SSURGO via Soil Data Access (muaggatt: drclassdcd, hydgrpdcd, flodfreqdcd, pondfreqprs, wtdepannmin), acreage-weighted (survey area NE079; drainage covers 99% of 353,452 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.