Sinkhole risk in Albany County, WY: Mostly deep or small

Mostly deep or small

Some soluble rock, mostly deeply buried or in a small share of the county.

On soluble rock: 12%
At or near the surface: 12%
Buried under cover: 0%

What this means before you buy

Sinkholes are uncommon here; watch for new depressions after heavy rain or leaking pipes.

That works out to roughly 530 of Albany County's 4,274 square miles on soluble rock, 530 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 39,288 residents (9 per square mile), much of the land is open, and the mapped rock may sit far from where people actually live. The figures come from 315 map points about 3.7 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Counties around Albany County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Dawes County, NE, about 151 miles northeast. 5 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Platte County, WY 51 mi northeast · 8% at surface
Laramie County, WY 61 mi southeast · under 1% at surface
Carbon County, WY 63 mi west · 4% at surface
Larimer County, CO 71 mi south · 9% at surface
Jackson County, CO 76 mi southwest · 4% at surface
Goshen County, WY 76 mi northeast · 1% at surface

What Albany County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Casper and Fountain Formations (sandstone), Upper and Middle Pennsylvanian-Permian in age, covering about 4% of the county. Next is the Niobrara Formation at 2%.

2% of the county sits on gypsum or salt, which dissolves in years rather than millennia. That share matters more than its size suggests.

Against the rest of Wyoming

Albany County ranks 12 of 23 in Wyoming for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 70% of US counties on that measure.