States / Indiana

92 counties · median score 44

Crawl space moisture in Indiana

Most of Indiana sits on soil that holds water: 57 of its 92 counties score high or elevated, led by Adams County at 73. In much of the state a vented crawl space over bare ground is working against the soil it was built on.

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  1. 1Wettest county Adams County
  2. 2High or elevated 57 of 92
  3. 3Median score 44
  4. 4Driest county Lawrence County
Adams73Tipton70Wells69Grant68Allen67Huntington67Blackford66Howard65Boone64Jay64Hancock63Benton62Clinton62Randolph62De Kalb61
Soil moisture score (0–100) for the 15 highest of 92 counties in Indiana, bars to scale. Score from USDA NRCS drainage class, hydrologic group, water-table depth and flooding; see methodology.
20High37Elevated27Moderate8Low
Indiana: counties by soil moisture tier, columns to scale.

Indiana's soil, taken as a whole

Across the 23,158,624 acres mapped in these 92 counties, 47% of soil with a drainage class is somewhat poorly, poorly or very poorly drained, and 70% of acres report a seasonal water table within about two metres. That is a wet state by any measure; a third or more of its land holds water near the surface for part of the year. 90 of the 92 counties have mapped soils subject to occasional or frequent flooding.

Drainage classShare of mapped acres
Excessively drained1.3%
Somewhat excessively drained2.1%
Well drained30.9%
Moderately well drained19.1%
Somewhat poorly drained23.4%
Poorly drained16.5%
Very poorly drained6.8%

Radon. By EPA zone, 56 Indiana counties here are zone 1 (highest potential), 34 zone 2 and 0 zone 3; 2 are not in the EPA table. With most of the state in zone 1, any crawl-space sealing project here should start with a radon test and be designed to take a radon fan.

Every Indiana county

Sorted wettest first. High and elevated counties link to their own page with the full soil breakdown.

Adams County 73Tipton County 70Wells County 69Grant County 68Allen County 67Huntington County 67Blackford County 66Howard County 65Boone County 64Jay County 64Hancock County 63Benton County 62Clinton County 62Randolph County 62De Kalb County 61Delaware County 61Jasper County 61Madison County 61Newton County 61Pulaski County 61Hamilton County 59White County 59Whitley County 58Hendricks County 57Miami County 56Starke County 56Rush County 54Shelby County 54Wabash County 54Henry County 53Decatur County 52Montgomery County 52Lake County 51Johnson County 50Carroll County 48Warren County 48Jennings County 47Marion County 47Porter County 47Ripley County 47Fulton County 46Cass County 45Scott County 45Bartholomew County 44Clay County 44Daviess County 44Noble County 44Tippecanoe County 44Vanderburgh County 44Warrick County 44Fountain County 43Spencer County 43Gibson County 42St. Joseph County 42Wayne County 42Marshall County 41Jackson County 40Sullivan County 39Elkhart County 38La Porte County 38Putnam County 38Steuben County 38Vigo County 38Jefferson County 37Kosciusko County 37Pike County 37Posey County 36Dubois County 35Vermillion County 35Knox County 34Franklin County 32Greene County 32Morgan County 32Perry County 31Union County 31Lagrange County 30Owen County 29Dearborn County 27Parke County 27Clark County 26Switzerland County 26Fayette County 24Ohio County 24Martin County 21Orange County 19Washington County 19Crawford County 17Floyd County 15Monroe County 15Brown County 14Harrison County 14Lawrence County 14

What drives the Indiana numbers

The wettest county, Adams County, is 50% somewhat poorly drained by dominant condition, with a seasonal water table averaging 0.7 ft below grade across the 98% of acres that report one, and sits in EPA radon zone 1. The driest, Lawrence County, is 74% well drained. 20 Indiana counties reach the high tier, where poorly drained soils, group D clays and a shallow water table occur together.

The score is a guide to the soil, not to a house: a well-graded lot with working gutters in a high county can have a dry crawl space, and a bad downspout can flood one in a low county. The R408 calculator sizes venting or encapsulation for any footprint.

Sources: USDA NRCS SSURGO via Soil Data Access (muaggatt: drclassdcd, hydgrpdcd, flodfreqdcd, pondfreqprs, wtdepannmin), acreage-weighted; EPA Map of Radon Zones, county table (June 2024 JSON). Checked 2026-10-23.