Oklahoma / Latimer County

Score 23 · moderate · #30 of 77 in OK

Crawl space moisture in Latimer County, OK

Latimer County scores moderate: no single wet-soil signal dominates its mapped acres. Where a seasonal water table is reported — 33% of acres — it averages 1.7 ft below grade, shallow enough to reach a typical crawl-space footing.

Size venting or encapsulation

1234
  1. 1Water table 1.7 ft
  2. 2Wet soils 2%
  3. 3Moisture score 23
  4. 4EPA radon zone 3
Well72%Moderately well26%Somewhat poorly0%Poorly0%Very poorly2%
Share of mapped soil acres in Latimer County, OK by NRCS drainage class (dominant condition), bars to scale; wetter classes highlighted. Covers 99% of mapped acres.
Dominant drainage
Well drained
72% of acres
Group D soils
34%
slow infiltration
Flood-prone acres
12%
any flooding frequency
Ponding
0%
acres where water ponds

Reading the Latimer County soil survey

The score of 23 combines four parts, each from the USDA survey: wet drainage classes contribute 11.1 points of 100 on their own scale, group D soils 48.1, a shallow water table 24, and flooding 9.9; the weights are on the methodology page. The dominant hydrologic group is C (57% of acres): slow infiltration (clay layers).

3%A6%B57%C26%D1%B/D7%C/D
Hydrologic soil groups in Latimer County by share of acres, columns to scale. Group D and dual groups (x/D) shed water slowly and hold it near the surface.

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 on the soils that report a water table — about 33% of Latimer County's acres. Venting cannot fix that; it needs drainage — a perimeter drain to daylight or a sump — before any liner goes down.

Latimer County against the rest of Oklahoma

Latimer County ranks 30 of 77 Oklahoma counties, 6 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 2%, 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 26%.

Flooding. 6.7% of acres with a flooding class are rated frequent; 5.3% of acres with a flooding class are rated occasional. Flood-prone soils are a minority here, concentrated along streams; the score mostly reflects what happens between floods.

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 Latimer 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 OK077; drainage covers 99% of 466,599 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.