Sinkhole risk in San Saba 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: 59%
At or near the surface: 59%
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 672 of San Saba County's 1,135 square miles on soluble rock, 672 of them with the rock at or near the surface. With about 5,508 residents (5 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 292 map points about 2.0 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 San Saba County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Runnels County, TX, about 83 miles northwest. 5 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Mills County, TX 27 mi northeast · 16% at surface
Llano County, TX 32 mi south · 11% at surface
McCulloch County, TX 32 mi west · 48% at surface
Lampasas County, TX 34 mi east · 57% at surface
Mason County, TX 40 mi southwest · 46% at surface
Brown County, TX 43 mi north · 19% at surface

What San Saba County is built on

The largest mapped soluble unit here is the Tanyard Formation (limestone), Early Ordovician in age, covering about 16% of the county. Next is the Gorman Formation at 14%.

Against the rest of Texas

San Saba County ranks 35 of 254 in Texas for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 90% of US counties on that measure.