Soil nitrate test reports are being used more widely for making nitrogen fertilizer recommendations. Seldom does the literature refer to the ammonium concentration in the soil. Seemingly, an assumption is made that the level is insignificant or a constant. Selected soils upon which both NO3‐N and NH4‐Nwere analyzed were surveyed to determine the degree of variation that is found in routine soil samples from different situations. Our 134 sets of data were divided into groups by area (state) and date (month sampled). Group means and standard deviations, medians, coefficient of variations (C.V.), and ranges were determined for soil nitrate nitrogen (NO3‐N), ammonium‐nitrogen (NH4‐N), sum of NO3‐N + NH4‐N (Sum N), % of N found as NO3‐N, and ratio of NH4‐N/ NO3‐N.