Cultivation impacts soil physical, chemical and biological properties. Conventional practices that rely on tillage and high inputs of synthetic chemicals ususally have a negative effect on soil properties. Measurements quantifying changes in soil properties are often labor intensive, time consuming, expensive, and therefore, not routine. Hot water extractable carbon (HWEC) is a relatively rapid and simple measurement that quantifies changes in the labile C pool, which is correlated with microbial biomass C (MBC), mineralizable N, and water stable aggregates. In this study we test the hypothesis that HWEC can be used as a single measurement to monitor changes in soil physical, chemical and biological properties. We collected 18 soils across 7 soil orders with varying mineraligical properties and management histories. The soils were analyzed for HWEC, MBC, mineralizable N, and water stable aggregates. Results from regression analysis showed that HWEC was highly correlated with MBC (r2=0.81)and mineralizable N (r2=0.86), but showed a weaker relationship with water stable aggregates (r2=0.55) for all soils. Cultivation showed a significant and negative effect on all the measurements. We propose that HWEC is a simple and rapid method that can be used to quantify management effects on soil physiscal, chemical and biological properties