Sinkhole risk in Hamilton 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: 34%
At or near the surface: 34%
Buried under cover: 0%

What to do about a house in Hamilton County

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 280 of Hamilton County's 836 square miles on soluble rock, 280 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 8,644 residents (10 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 502 map points about 1.3 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Counties around Hamilton County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Runnels County, TX, about 110 miles west. 6 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Coryell County, TX 29 mi southeast · 35% at surface
Comanche County, TX 31 mi northwest · 28% at surface
Bosque County, TX 31 mi northeast · 26% at surface
Mills County, TX 32 mi southwest · 16% at surface
Lampasas County, TX 36 mi south · 57% at surface
Erath County, TX 37 mi north · 27% at surface

What Hamilton County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Paluxy Sand and Glen Rose Limestone, undivided (sandstone), Early Cretaceous in age, covering about 27% of the county. Next is the Glen Rose Limestone at 5%.

Against the rest of Texas

Hamilton County ranks 78 of 254 in Texas for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 81% of US counties on that measure.