Oklahoma / Johnston County

Score 22 · moderate · #32 of 77 in OK

Crawl space moisture in Johnston County, OK

Johnston County scores moderate: no single wet-soil signal dominates its mapped acres. Where a seasonal water table is reported — 24% of acres — it averages 2.8 ft below grade.

Size venting or encapsulation

1234
  1. 1Water table 2.8 ft
  2. 2Wet soils 3%
  3. 3Moisture score 22
  4. 4EPA radon zone 3
Somewhat excessively1%Well65%Moderately well30%Somewhat poorly3%
Share of mapped soil acres in Johnston County, OK by NRCS drainage class (dominant condition), bars to scale; wetter classes highlighted. Covers 98% of mapped acres.
Dominant drainage
Well drained
65% of acres
Group D soils
45%
slow infiltration
Flood-prone acres
10%
any flooding frequency
Ponding
4.1%
acres where water ponds

Reading the Johnston County soil survey

The score of 22 combines four parts, each from the USDA survey: wet drainage classes contribute 12.4 points of 100 on their own scale, group D soils 51.1, a shallow water table 13.8, and flooding 6.8; the weights are on the methodology page. The dominant hydrologic group is D (44% of acres): very slow infiltration, high runoff (clays, high water table).

4%A30%B21%C44%D1%C/D
Hydrologic soil groups in Johnston 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 2.8 ft the seasonal water table is usually below a crawl-space floor, but the 24% 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.

Johnston County against the rest of Oklahoma

Johnston County ranks 32 of 77 Oklahoma counties, 5 points above the state median of 17. That places it in the middle range, nationally and for the state. Statewide, 11% of mapped soil is in the wet drainage classes; here it is 3%, below the state figure — the score here comes from flooding and ponding rather than drainage class alone. After well drained, the next most common class is moderately well drained at 30%.

Flooding. 2.2% of acres with a flooding class are rated frequent; 7.4% of acres with a flooding class are rated occasional; 0.6% of acres with a flooding class are rated rare. Flood-prone soils are a minority here, concentrated along streams; the score mostly reflects what happens between floods. Ponding — water standing at the surface with nowhere to go — affects 4.1% 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 3. The zone is a county-level prediction; EPA says elevated levels occur in every zone and every home should be tested.

Near Johnston County by score

All 77 Oklahoma counties

Sources: USDA NRCS SSURGO via Soil Data Access (muaggatt: drclassdcd, hydgrpdcd, flodfreqdcd, pondfreqprs, wtdepannmin), acreage-weighted (survey area OK069; drainage covers 98% of 421,184 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.