Sinkhole risk in Real 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: 96%
At or near the surface: 96%
Buried under cover: 0%

The next step for one property

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 671 of Real County's 699 square miles on soluble rock, 671 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 2,772 residents (4 per square mile), there is effectively nowhere in the county off the soluble rock, town or country. The figures come from 353 map points about 1.4 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Two things to read before deciding: the signs to look for and how an inspection works, and how these percentages are measured.

Counties around Real County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Runnels County, TX, about 140 miles north. 6 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Kerr County, TX 30 mi northeast · 99% at surface
Edwards County, TX 32 mi west · 99% at surface
Uvalde County, TX 33 mi south · 54% at surface
Bandera County, TX 34 mi east · 96% at surface
Kimble County, TX 45 mi north · 97% at surface
Kinney County, TX 49 mi southwest · 54% at surface

The rock underneath

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Edwards Limestone (limestone), Early Cretaceous in age, covering about 56% of the county. Next is the Glen Rose Limestone at 19%.

Against the rest of Texas

Real County ranks 8 of 254 in Texas for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 98% of US counties on that measure.