South Dakota / Brown County
Score 31 · moderate · #4 of 60 in SD
Crawl space moisture in Brown County, SD
Brown County scores moderate: no single wet-soil signal dominates its mapped acres. Where a seasonal water table is reported — 96% of acres — it averages 2.9 ft below grade.
- 1Water table 2.9 ft
- 2Wet soils 20%
- 3Moisture score 31
- 4EPA radon zone 1
Reading the Brown County soil survey
The score of 31 combines four parts, each from the USDA survey: wet drainage classes contribute 28.9 points of 100 on their own scale, group D soils 22.8, a shallow water table 53.8, and flooding 8; the weights are on the methodology page. The dominant hydrologic group is B (44% of acres): moderate infiltration.
At 2.9 ft the seasonal water table is usually below a crawl-space floor, but the 96% 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.
Brown County against the rest of South Dakota
Brown County ranks 4 of 60 South Dakota counties, 8 points above the state median of 23. That puts it in the wettest quarter of the state. Statewide, 9% of mapped soil is in the wet drainage classes; here it is 20%, half again the state figure or more. After well drained, the next most common class is moderately well drained at 34%.
Flooding. 5.9% of acres with a flooding class are rated frequent; 3.5% of acres with a flooding class are rated occasional; 0.2% of acres with a flooding class are rated rare; 0% of acres with a flooding class are rated very 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 17.5% 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. Brown 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 Brown County by score
Sources: USDA NRCS SSURGO via Soil Data Access (muaggatt: drclassdcd, hydgrpdcd, flodfreqdcd, pondfreqprs, wtdepannmin), acreage-weighted (survey area SD013; drainage covers 99% of 1,107,891 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.