The New York City Soil Survey provides 8 million plus residents with a modern urban soil survey to use for planning everything from fiber optics and the infrastructure of the Internet to community gardens and street trees, pocket parks, roads, transportation-, fresh water- and sanitation-systems, schools, theaters, shops, workplaces and residences. The 1:12,000 scale soil map covers 235,945 acres, reflective of the field investigations conducted in NYC’s open space, which accounts for twenty-seven percent of the city.

Detailed information characterizing NYC’s soils can help city planners determine the best land use and management practices. Beyond engineers and urban planners, information about soil composition, health and contamination are used to support human health and quality of life. Soils support the biology on which human life hinges — the lives of plants, animals, fungi, protists, archaea, and bacteria.

Understanding our soils also helps us meet the challenges of climate change, coastal resiliency, estuary restoration, small- and large-scale watershed planning, and environmental literacy.

The New York City Reconnaissance Soil Survey provides a general guide to soil patterns across the city. The map scale is 1:62,500, and the minimum size delineation is 40 acres. The map is composed of 88 soil map units, comprised of 20 anthropogenic and 24 natural soil series. The map projection is UTM zone 18N.

For the NYC Detailed Soil Survey via Web Soil Survey, over 100 soil profiles were sampled and analyzed for complete characterization by the USDA-NRCS Kellogg Soil Survey Laboratory. 70 soil series were identified, 32 of which were developed in human transported materials (HTM) and 38 in naturally occurring parent materials (glacial till, outwash, etc.). The ‘natural’ and ‘anthropogenic’ soils of New York City exhibit a wide range of physical, chemical and mineralogical properties.

Soils in a series share the same parent material type, particle size class, wetness or drainage class, and general sequence of horizons. The USDA soil classification system, Soil Taxonomy, differentiates more than 20,000 soil series, predominantly in the U.S. Soil series are named for the location they were first described in. Almost half of the 66 series mapped in NYC were first identified in the City.

 Soil Survey Information is available, at no charge, in several formats:

• Detailed, city-wide information can be accessed on USDA NRCS’s WebSoilSurvey. Here you can create a map and pdf report for a designated area of interest and/or download GIS compatible spatial and tabular data by county (borough).

• A general or “Reconnaissance Soil Survey” for New York City, less detailed than above, is great for students and teachers and is available as a 3’ x 3’ poster map with an accompanying manuscript thanks to NRCS and the NYC Soil and Water Conservation District.

PLEASE NOTE: Soil survey maps are never intended to replace an on-site assessment.