The data include soil texture, soil-water, and estimated soil strength properties for soil map units and from geotechnical investigations of landslide areas affecting highways in the municipalities of Lares, Naranjito, and Utuado, Puerto Rico. The map units are derived from published soil mapping (https://websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.gov/app/) and have been grouped by municipality, Unified Soil Classification System symbol, and order-of-magnitude ranges of hydraulic conductivity to create generalized map units for assigning soil-water parameters and soil-strength parameters. Each group (generalized unit) includes one or more soil map units. The groups are numbered sequentially from one (1) for each municipality with low-permeability soils having lower numbers and permeable soils having higher numbers. However, each municipality has a unique number of groups resulting from its unique mix of soils, so groups having the same number may have different characteristics in each municipality. The tab-delimited data lists the following for each constituent soil map unit: map-unit symbol, hydraulic conductivity (micrometers per second), effective porosity (percent), plasticity index, Unified Soil Classification System symbol, total sand (percent), total silt (percent), total clay (percent), organic matter (percent), water content at 15 bars of suction (percent), saturated water content (percent). For each group that includes two or more soil map units, the data include the median of each of the numeric values enumerated previously. Each group (except those lacking sufficient soil texture data), includes estimates of the soil-water retention parameter (inverse meters), angle of internal friction (degrees), and cohesion (kilopascals). A separate file contains tab-delimited data summarizing geological and engineering characteristics of soil and rock layers intersected by boreholes in landslide areas that damaged highways in the three municipalities. We obtained these characteristics from unpublished engineering reports prepared by consultants and on file with the Puerto Rico Department of Transportation (Departamento de Transportación y Obras Públicas).