Sinkhole risk in Brown County, TX: Pockets of it

Pockets of it

Soluble rock at the surface or under thin cover in part of the county.

On soluble rock: 19%
At or near the surface: 19%
Buried under cover: 0%

What this means before you buy

Check the parcel against your state survey sinkhole map, and ask for an inspection if cracks, depressions or sticking doors show up.

That works out to roughly 183 of Brown County's 944 square miles on soluble rock, 183 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 38,631 residents (41 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 283 map points about 1.8 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Worth reading for this county: the signs to look for and how an inspection works, and how these percentages are measured.

Counties around Brown County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Runnels County, TX, about 58 miles west. 6 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Coleman County, TX 23 mi northwest · 36% at surface
Comanche County, TX 29 mi northeast · 28% at surface
Mills County, TX 30 mi southeast · 16% at surface
Eastland County, TX 40 mi north · 19% at surface
Callahan County, TX 43 mi northwest · 38% at surface
San Saba County, TX 43 mi south · 59% at surface

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Glen Rose Limestone (limestone), Early Cretaceous in age, covering about 5% of the county. Next is the Winchell Limestone at 5%.

Against the rest of Texas

Brown County ranks 102 of 254 in Texas for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 74% of US counties on that measure.