What's living in your soil?

SoilCensus maps the invisible world of microbes beneath our feet — one sample at a time. Request a kit, collect a sample from your backyard, garden, or land, and discover what's been there all along.

Request a KitComing Soon
See How It Works

Be one of our first contributors mapping the living world beneath their feet.

Simple by design

Four Steps to Knowing Your Soil

Request a kit

Tell us where you want to sample. We'll mail you everything you need — a sample tube, instructions, and a prepaid return mailer.

Collect your sample

Choose a spot. Dig a few inches. Fill the tube. It takes about five minutes. Your GPS coordinates are captured automatically.

Drop it in the mail

Seal the prepaid mailer and leave it for your carrier. No post office trip. It goes directly to our lab partner for DNA sequencing.

See your results

Within two to three weeks, your results page is ready — microbial species, diversity scores, and what your microbiome is doing.

Every sample makes it better

A Map That Didn't Exist Before You

No satellite has ever seen a soil microbiome. No government survey has sampled at this resolution. The map we're building together — backyard by backyard, farm by farm — is genuinely new.

Researchers use it to understand how land use affects microbial diversity. City planners track soil health across parks. Farmers compare their land to neighboring parcels.

The more people contribute, the more useful it becomes — for everyone.

What you get back

Your Soil Has a Story

Your results page includes everything we learned from your sample — explained in plain language, not lab reports.

Species detected

How many distinct microbial species we found and what that tells you about your soil's health.

Diversity comparison

How your sample compares to others in your area — expressed as a simple percentile, not a raw number.

Dominant groups

Which microbial groups dominate your soil — nitrogen fixers, decomposers, carbon builders, and more.

Soil functions

Which functions are active, moderate, or low — with plain-language explanations for what you're growing.

Pathogen screen

Which known soil pathogens were detected and at what levels — a clear picture of potential risks.

Practical recommendations

Specific next steps based on your results. Your data is yours — download, share, or use however you like.

Who it's for

For anyone with soil and a curiosity about what's in it.

Gardeners & Homeowners

You care what's in your soil.

Whether you're growing vegetables, restoring a lawn, or just curious — your soil has a story worth knowing. SoilCensus tells it in language that makes sense.

Small Farms & Homesteads

Know your land at a level no soil test ever showed you.

Traditional tests measure nutrients. SoilCensus measures the organisms that cycle them — the bacteria, fungi, and decomposers that drive your soil's biology.

Community Gardens

Map your whole garden — not just one plot.

Sample each bed, each section, or each growing year, and watch the map show you how your soil changes over time. Group pricing and free pilot kits available.

Researchers & Institutions

The dataset you couldn't build any other way.

Georeferenced, time-series microbiome data across land types and geographies at unprecedented resolution. API access and data licensing available.

Simple pricing

Coming Soon

Everything included. Nothing extra to buy.

  • Sample tube and collection tool
  • Illustrated instruction card
  • Prepaid return mailer addressed to our lab
  • Full results page with your microbiome profile
  • Permanent placement on the SoilCensus map
  • Downloadable results in PDF and data formats
Request a KitComing Soon

Community gardens, schools, and research institutions may qualify for subsidized or free kits. Contact us to learn more.

Questions

Frequently Asked

No. The kit includes everything you need and the instructions are illustrated step by step. If you can dig a small hole with a stick, you can collect a sample.
About two tablespoons — roughly what fits in the tube we provide. The sample should come from a consistent depth (we recommend 4 inches) and be free of large debris like rocks or roots.
From the day your sample arrives at the lab, expect two to three weeks. We'll email you at each stage — when the lab receives your sample, when processing begins, and when results are ready.
Contact us and we'll send a replacement kit at no charge. It happens occasionally and it's not your problem to solve.
Yes, within reason. Your results include practical recommendations — whether your soil would benefit from a mycorrhizal inoculant, whether your nitrogen cycle is active, and what your decomposer community looks like. A good extension agent can take your results and go deeper.
Your precise coordinates and personal information are never publicly displayed. The public map shows a pin with the diversity score and land use type — no name, no address. You can also keep your sample entirely private.
Yes — and we encourage it. A single sample is a snapshot. Multiple samples from the same location over time become a time series, showing how your soil health changes with seasons and practices.
Your sample data generates your personal results and contributes to the aggregate dataset, used for research under data licensing. We never sell personal information. Location data is stored securely and never shared at the individual level.