Texas / DeWitt County

Score 21 · moderate · #74 of 209 in TX

Crawl space moisture in DeWitt County, TX

DeWitt County scores moderate: no single wet-soil signal dominates its mapped acres. Where a seasonal water table is reported — 22% of acres — it averages 2.5 ft below grade.

Size venting or encapsulation

1234
  1. 1Water table 2.5 ft
  2. 2Wet soils 16%
  3. 3Moisture score 21
  4. 4EPA radon zone 3
Somewhat excessively0%Well49%Moderately well35%Somewhat poorly16%
Share of mapped soil acres in DeWitt County, TX by NRCS drainage class (dominant condition), bars to scale; wetter classes highlighted. Covers 100% of mapped acres.
Dominant drainage
Well drained
49% of acres
Group D soils
26%
slow infiltration
Flood-prone acres
8%
any flooding frequency
Ponding
13.5%
acres where water ponds

Reading the DeWitt County soil survey

The score of 21 combines four parts, each from the USDA survey: wet drainage classes contribute 22.3 points of 100 on their own scale, group D soils 33.3, a shallow water table 13.6, and flooding 6.2; the weights are on the methodology page. The dominant hydrologic group is A (33% of acres): high infiltration, low runoff (sands, gravels).

33%A18%B23%C26%D
Hydrologic soil groups in DeWitt 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 2.5 ft the seasonal water table is usually below a crawl-space floor, but the 22% 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.

DeWitt County against the rest of Texas

DeWitt County ranks 74 of 209 Texas counties, 3 points above the state median of 18. That places it in the middle range, nationally and for the state. Statewide, 6% of mapped soil is in the wet drainage classes; here it is 16%, half again the state figure or more. After well drained, the next most common class is moderately well drained at 35%.

Flooding. 2.8% of acres with a flooding class are rated frequent; 5.5% 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. Ponding — water standing at the surface with nowhere to go — affects 13.5% 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. 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 DeWitt County by score

All 209 Texas counties

Sources: USDA NRCS SSURGO via Soil Data Access (muaggatt: drclassdcd, hydgrpdcd, flodfreqdcd, pondfreqprs, wtdepannmin), acreage-weighted (survey area TX123; drainage covers 100% of 582,681 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.