ALTA Survey: What It Shows, Cost and Table A Items (2026)

An ALTA survey, formally an ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey, is a property survey made to a national standard set jointly by the American Land Title Association and the National Society of Professional Surveyors. It maps boundaries, easements, access, encroachments and improvements against the title record. Buyers, lenders and title insurers use it to insure title without a general survey exception.

The edition in force is the 2026 Minimum Standard Detail Requirements for ALTA/NSPS Land Title Surveys, effective February 23, 2026. Section and item numbers below refer to it and to the ALTA/NSPS FAQ dated January 5, 2026, both checked November 10, 2026.

Pillar, a land research platform, wrote this guide for land buyers. It is general information. Your lender, title insurer, attorney and surveyor decide what a specific deal needs.

What does an ALTA survey show?

With no optional items selected, the map has to show:

• The boundary. Monuments found or set, the record description, and measured dimensions where they differ significantly from the record (Sections 5.A and 6.B).
• Access. Abutting streets, observed physical access such as curb cuts and driveways, and a note if no physical access was observed (Sections 5.B and 6.C).
• Easements. The location, width and recording information of every plottable easement that burdens or benefits the property in the documents the surveyor is given or obtains, with a note where one can't be located from its document or is a blanket easement (Section 6.C).
• Buildings. The location of buildings observed on the property during fieldwork (Section 5.D).
• Use and possession. Fences, walls, buildings and other improvements within five feet of each side of the boundary, evidence of possession or occupation, and use that no document explains, such as a road or utility line crossing the property (Sections 5.C and 5.E).
• Utilities, water and graves. Surface evidence of utilities, water features such as streams, ditches, marshes and swamps on or within five feet of the property, and cemeteries or gravesites (Sections 5.E to 5.G).
• Gaps and overlaps. Where the site is made up of several parcels, any gap or overlap between them must be identified and disclosed to the insurer and the client (Section 6.B.vii).

The required map doesn't have to state the acreage, the flood zone, topography, zoning or the location of underground utilities. Each is an optional Table A item.

What are the ALTA survey requirements for ordering one?

Under Section 2, the request must specify a "2026 ALTA/NSPS LAND TITLE SURVEY" and name the Table A items to include, and the paying party must authorize the work in writing. The client also secures permission for the surveyor to enter the property, adjoining properties or offsite easements when required.

Under Section 4, the surveyor must be given:

• The most recent title commitment, or other title evidence satisfactory to the title insurer.
• The current record description of the property, or the parent parcel's description for a tract being carved out of a larger one.
• Recorded easements that benefit the property, and recorded easements, servitudes and covenants that burden it.
• Any unrecorded documents the client wants the survey to reference.

Where state or local survey rules conflict with the standard, Section 3.B says the more stringent requirement applies.

ALTA survey vs boundary survey

A boundary survey locates a property's lines and corners under the surveying rules of its state. What else it shows depends on those rules and on what the client and surveyor agree. An ALTA survey includes that boundary work (Section 3.D) and adds three things:

• A title review. The surveyor works from the title commitment and has to plot or account for each easement and survey-related matter in it.
• A uniform scope. The minimum fieldwork and map contents are the same in every state.
• A fixed certification. Under Section 7 the wording can't be altered except where state law requires. It names the insured, lender and insurer and lists the Table A items included.

A boundary survey can be enough when nobody is asking a title insurer for survey coverage. If a lender or title company is involved, ask which survey it will accept before you order.

Which Table A items should a land buyer order?

Table A is the menu of optional items, 21 in the 2026 edition. Its opening note says the wording of and fee for a selected item can be negotiated, and that an item required by state law has to be included. The FAQ's example is item 1, because a number of states require boundary monuments.

The grouping below is Pillar's reading of the table for raw and development land. It isn't part of the standard, and a lender's or title insurer's required list overrides it.

Usually worth ordering on land

• Item 1, monuments at the major corners. Site walks, clearing limits and later engineering all need corners on the ground.
• Item 3, flood zone classification. Plotted from FEMA flood maps "by scaled map location and graphic plotting only," so it is an overlay of the published map. Our Flood Zone X guide explains what the zones mean for development.
• Item 4, gross land area. Without it, the survey doesn't have to state an acreage. If the price is per acre, order it and define any other area you need, since the item covers "other areas if specified by the client." See deeded acres vs GIS acres for why surveyed, deeded and assessor figures differ.
• Item 18, offsite easements. The required map already plots a recorded easement that benefits the site, such as access or a utility line over a neighbor's land (Section 6.C.i). Item 18 goes further. The FAQ says the surveyor treats the easement as if it were part of the property being surveyed, applying the fieldwork and mapping requirements to it, except setting monuments. It warns that a geographically extensive easement "could drastically increase the fee involved," so agree the scope first. Our road frontage vs legal access guide covers the access question itself.
• Item 20, summary table. New in 2026. One table lists potential encroachments over boundary lines and into documented easements and rights of way, plus access or use across adjoining parcels with no documented easement. It covers setback encroachments only when the setback requirements were supplied under item 6 or appear in recorded documents.

Depends on the site and the plan

• Item 5, vertical relief. Contours with their source, interval and datum. The source can be an aerial map. For design-grade topography, the Table A note says to negotiate an engineering design survey under item 21.
• Items 6(a) and 6(b), zoning. The surveyor lists zoning classification, setbacks, height and floor area limits and parking requirements only from a zoning report or letter you supply, and draws setbacks only if they need no interpretation.
• Items 11(a) and 11(b), underground utilities. Drawn from plans you provide or from a private utility locate. The item's own note says that "lacking excavation, the exact location of underground features cannot be accurately, completely, and reliably depicted." It says nothing about capacity.
• Item 8, substantial features, including billboards, signs and "substantial areas of refuse." Useful where dumping or a sign lease is possible.
• Item 13, adjoining owners' names from current tax records, for an assemblage or an easement negotiation.
• Item 15, imagery. Lets the surveyor show some features from imagery instead of ground survey. It doesn't cover the boundary survey itself or features close to a boundary, another title line or a setback line. The surveyor has to agree the imagery with you in writing, discuss its limits with the insurer, lender and client before the survey, and note its source, date and precision on the map. Worth raising on a large tract.
• Item 17, proposed changes in street right of way lines, where the jurisdiction makes them available. It matters on frontage along a road that may be widened.
• Items 12 and 16. Government agency survey requirements, such as HUD surveys or Bureau of Land Management leases, and evidence of recent earth moving or construction.

Mainly for improved commercial property

• Items 7(a), 7(b) and 7(c): building dimensions, footprint area and height.
• Item 9: parking space counts and striping.
• Item 10: division or party walls.

Ask whether your lender or title insurer wants items 2 (the address) and 14 (distance to the nearest intersecting street). Item 19 sets the surveyor's professional liability coverage. Item 21 is the blank line for anything else you negotiate.

Wetlands are not a Table A item. Older guides still list wetlands as an optional item. It was struck in the 2021 edition and isn't in the 2026 table. Gary Kent, who had chaired the joint ALTA/NSPS committee since 1995, wrote at the time that the item had caused confusion since 2011 and wasn't rooted in a title concern. The required fieldwork locates marshes and swamps observed on or within five feet of the property (Section 5.G), but a wetland delineation is a separate job for a wetland consultant. If you want the consultant's flags shown on the survey, ask whether the surveyor will map them as a negotiated item 21 service.

What changed in the 2026 ALTA/NSPS standards?

ALTA adopted the 2026 edition on October 8, 2025 and NSPS on October 17, 2025. The FAQ lists the changes. The ones a land buyer will notice:

• New item 20, the summary table above. Negotiated extras moved from item 20 to item 21.
• Imagery and methods. Item 15 was rewritten so imagery can be the basis for some features. Sections 5 and 6 now refer to "practices generally recognized as acceptable by the surveying profession," which the FAQ ties to tools such as drones and LiDAR.
• More evidence on the map. Possession evidence regardless of its distance from the boundary line, utility poles on or within ten feet of the property, and statements by landowners or occupants about title or boundary issues.

The FAQ says a survey contracted on or after February 23, 2026 must follow the 2026 standards, and that one contracted earlier may be finished under the 2021 edition. Check the certification on any survey the seller hands you. The FAQ also treats an "update" of an old survey as a new survey, though the original surveyor may offer a reduced fee or quicker turnaround.

How much does an ALTA survey cost?

The standard sets no fees. The figures below come from two surveying firms' own pages, describe commercial sites, and were checked November 10, 2026.

• McSteen Land Surveyors, an Ohio firm, says many standard commercial sites fall around $3,000 to $8,000 and more complex projects can reach $15,000 or more. The page is undated.
• Ludlow Engineering, a Utah firm, says ALTA/NSPS surveys usually run $3,000 to $8,000 or more. For development due diligence it lists an ALTA survey with topography at $4,500 to $12,500 or more. The page shows an update date of November 10, 2026.

Neither is a rate for acreage, and we didn't find a large-tract figure we could verify. Ludlow says the fee depends on parcel size, the number of Table A items, the quality of existing records and prior surveys, how much has to be shown, terrain and access, and the schedule. For a large tract, get written quotes against the same Table A list, describe the acreage, terrain and vegetation, and ask the seller for any earlier survey and who made it.

How long does an ALTA survey take?

The standard sets no deadline. Two published estimates:

• LightBox, a real estate data company, wrote in October 2023 that an ALTA survey can take two to three weeks or longer.
• Ludlow Engineering gives three to six weeks from the title commitment.

We didn't find a published figure for large acreage. Missing title evidence or recorded documents can hold up completion, so ask the surveyor what they need and when. Ask too whether expedited delivery is available and what it costs.

When should you order an ALTA survey in a land deal?

Line up the surveyor early in due diligence and order title at the same time. Section 4 lists the title commitment, or other title evidence the insurer accepts, first among the documents the surveyor must be given.

1. Before the contract. Screen the parcel from your desk.
2. At signing. Order the title commitment and copies of the recorded exception documents. Ask the seller for any prior survey, and start getting survey quotes.
3. Before ordering the survey. Agree the Table A list with your lender and title insurer. The FAQ advises a written contract naming the scope, the Table A items and the certified parties, because requirements can change during the process. If you want item 6, get the zoning letter first.
4. When the draft arrives. Read it with your attorney against Schedule B II of the commitment, where the FAQ says easements that burden the property appear as exceptions.

What a desktop review can settle first. Whether the site is worth the survey fee. Compare the mapped parcel shape and acreage with the deed. Look at the mapped flood zone and wetlands, the apparent frontage and driveways in imagery, and whether the assessor's parcels match what the seller is offering. Our desktop site screening checklist lists the checks.

What it can't settle. Where the boundary is on the ground, whether a recorded easement crosses the area you plan to build on, whether a neighbor's fence or driveway encroaches, whether the parcels in an assemblage actually touch, and whether the access you can see is access you have a right to use. Those need the survey and the title review.

Where Pillar fits

Pillar is land acquisition software, used before a survey is ordered. A land team can look up a parcel by address, APN or owner name, review its ownership, acreage and other record details, see floodplain and wetlands drawn on the parcel, and save the site to a pipeline with notes and tasks. Layer coverage varies by dataset. Parcel lines in Pillar, or in any GIS map, are not a survey and shouldn't be used as one.

Quick answers

Who requires an ALTA survey? Usually the lender or the title insurer. The FAQ calls them the primary consumers of the survey, even when the buyer orders it.

Who pays for an ALTA survey? Whoever the purchase contract says. Section 2 requires written authorization from the paying party and says the insurer isn't responsible for the cost unless it agrees in writing.

How long is an ALTA survey good for? The standard sets no expiration date. The certification states the date fieldwork was completed, so ask your lender and title insurer how old a survey they will accept.