<p>Most of the bearing capacity theories consider the soil to be homogeneous and incompressible. However, ground is nonhomogeneous both in terms of material and strength. Undrained shear strength varies linearly with depth for a young normally consolidated deposit. This study analyzes the response of circular footings of different sizes resting in normally consolidated soils, accounting for stress-induced heterogeneity of strength with depth. Finite element axisymmetric analysis is carried out to evaluate the bearing pressure versus settlement responses for footings on or in normally consolidated ground. Results show that undrained bearing pressure increases with the rate of increase of undrained strength with depth, unlike the case with footings on or in homogeneous soils. Bearing pressure increments are higher for large-size circular footings, located at larger embedment depths. Correction factors, F_nh, for bearing capacity are presented as a function of footing size and embedment depth, and rate of increase of undrained strength with depth for footings. Results are applied to circular footing resting in Mexican clay for illustration.</p>