Sinkhole risk in Shelby County, IL: No soluble rock mapped

No soluble rock mapped

No soluble bedrock mapped.

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

What this means before you buy

No soluble bedrock is mapped here, so natural sinkholes are unlikely. Collapses from broken pipes or old mines are a separate risk.

Across 759 square miles, under one square mile of Shelby County maps onto soluble rock. With about 20,542 residents (27 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 288 map points about 1.6 miles apart, so a pocket smaller than that can be missed or overstated.

Two things to read before deciding: why gypsum and salt move faster than limestone, and how these percentages are measured.

Counties around Shelby County

The nearest county rated sinkhole country is Calhoun County, IL, about 101 miles west. 6 of the 6 closest counties land in the same band, so this is a regional pattern rather than a local quirk.

Moultrie County, IL 20 mi northeast · 0% at surface
Effingham County, IL 26 mi southeast · 0% at surface
Christian County, IL 28 mi northwest · 0% at surface
Fayette County, IL 29 mi southwest · 0% at surface
Cumberland County, IL 31 mi east · 0% at surface
Coles County, IL 32 mi east · 0% at surface

Against the rest of Illinois

Shelby County ranks 92 of 102 in Illinois for soluble rock at the surface, and sits above 0% of US counties on that measure.