USDA SSURGO COUNTY SOIL REFERENCE

Suffolk County, Massachusetts Soil Summary

This page summarizes USDA SSURGO mapped soil information for Suffolk County, Massachusetts.

Mapped Land Coverage
89.11%68,561.2 mapped acres of 76,942.75 Census land acres

Coverage measures mapped SSURGO intersection with Census land geometry. It does not mean that every parcel or point has complete soil information.

Soil at a Glance

Largest mapped soil unit
Water
Symbol: W12.04% of mapped area
Largest estimated component
Water
11,523.73 acres (16.81% of mapped area)
Mapped units & components
15 soil units • 15 component series
Distinct SSURGO map units & series
Dominant drainage class
Unknown / Unmapped
Highest acreage drainage class
Dominant hydrologic group
Group Unknown / Unmapped
Runoff potential classification
Weighted average slope
5.25%
Terrain slope analysis
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County summaries provide regional context across mapped soil units. Address lookup combines available public datasets for the Census-matched location.

Mapped SSURGO Soil Units

Largest mapped soil units in Suffolk County ranked by intersected vector acreage
SymbolMap Unit NameMapped Acres% of Mapped Area
WWater8,256.8812.04%
RdARiverhead sandy loam, 0 to 3 percent slopes3,550.985.18%
HaAHaven loam, 0 to 2 percent slopes3,070.24.48%
RhBRiverhead and Haven soils, graded, 0 to 8 percent slopes2,962.644.32%
CpCCarver and Plymouth soils, 3 to 15 percent slopes2,201.723.21%
1Water2,194.33.2%
PlAPlymouth loamy coarse sand, 0 to 3 percent slopes1,991.462.9%
19Rains fine sandy loam1,873.762.73%
CpECarver and Plymouth soils, 15 to 35 percent slopes1,728.672.52%
CuBCut and fill land, gently sloping1,625.212.37%
RdBRiverhead sandy loam, 3 to 8 percent slopes1,615.272.36%
8AEunola loamy fine sand, 0 to 2 percent slopes1,608.572.35%
PlBPlymouth loamy coarse sand, 3 to 8 percent slopes1,360.221.98%
CpACarver and Plymouth soils, 0 to 3 percent slopes1,286.191.88%
WWater993.711.45%

Estimated Soil Components

Component acreage estimated from SSURGO component percentages
ComponentDrainage ClassHydrologic GroupEstimated Acres% of Mapped Area
WaterUnspecifiedUnspecified11,523.7316.81%
RiverheadWell drained, Excessively drainedA6,814.799.94%
PlymouthExcessively drainedA5,963.958.7%
HavenWell drainedB4,886.787.13%
CarverExcessively drainedA2,832.344.13%
MontaukWell drained, Excessively drainedA, C, A/D2,245.423.28%
Urban landUnspecifiedD2,207.273.22%
RainsPoorly drainedB/D1,634.682.38%
EunolaModerately well drainedC1,608.982.35%
Cut and fillModerately well drainedUnspecified1,598.052.33%
CantonWell drainedB, A1,375.982.01%
MerrimacSomewhat excessively drainedA1,160.881.69%
NansemondModerately well drainedB1,127.841.65%
UdorthentsModerately well drainedA, C960.81.4%
WoodbridgeModerately well drainedC/D921.081.34%
Component acreage is estimated from SSURGO map-unit component percentages. Component values are not independently mapped polygon boundaries.

Drainage Class Distribution

Unknown / Unmapped29.41%
20,163.79 acres
Well drained25.98%
17,811.09 acres
Excessively drained15.1%
10,355.1 acres
Moderately well drained10.53%
7,219.99 acres
Very poorly drained8.48%
5,814.43 acres
Poorly drained4.75%
3,256.44 acres
Somewhat excessively drained2.29%
1,568.04 acres
Somewhat poorly drained1.73%
1,188.77 acres

Hydrologic Soil Group Distribution

Group Unknown / Unmapped30.79%
21,108.81 acres
Group A29.63%
20,317.89 acres
Group B13.54%
9,282.51 acres
Group B/D7.08%
4,851.08 acres
Group C6.1%
4,183.24 acres
Group A/D4.24%
2,906.18 acres
Group D3.58%
2,452.11 acres
Group C/D3.32%
2,275.84 acres

Hydrologic soil groups are USDA/NRCS classifications related to runoff potential under specified soil conditions. They are not a property-level flood-risk rating.

Slope Characteristics

Weighted Average Slope: 5.25%
Nearly Level (0-2%)35.56%
24,380.57 acres
Gently Sloping (2-8%)22.07%
15,134.87 acres
Moderately Sloping (8-15%)10.92%
7,488.37 acres
Steep (15-30%)4.61%
3,159.93 acres
Very Steep (>30%)0.07%
45.67 acres
Unspecified Slope25.04%
17,168.26 acres

Sources & Methodology

USDA NRCS SSURGO

Mapped soil units, components, drainage classes, hydrologic groups, and slope ratings derived from official Soil Data Access REST services.

U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line

County land geometry used for county-level coverage calculation.

Coverage Method

Mapped acreage is calculated from true spatial vector intersection of county land geometry and SSURGO mapped soil polygons using NAD83 / CONUS Albers Equal Area projection (EPSG:5070).