How hard is the water in Boone County, MO?
24 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Boone County, MO is 411 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 24 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 1,436 samples at 49 sites between 1992 and 2026, drawn from groundwater wells, which is what most taps and private wells in the county draw on.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 19.3 and 26.7 gpg. The whole middle of that range gives the same answer, so a test of your own tap is unlikely to change it. Confidence in the county figure: high (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 24 gpg a softener pays its way here. Before you buy, check the quoted unit's grain capacity against the sizing table below, and ask whether it regenerates on demand, which uses less salt than a timer. Call your utility for its own report if you are on city water.
More on sizing a softener for your household.
From 11.1 to 38.1 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Boone County was 190 mg/L and the hardest 653 mg/L, a 3-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 26.7 gpg and the bottom quarter below 19.3 gpg.
Wells 24 gpg, rivers and lakes 14 gpg
1,436 groundwater samples from 49 wells put the median at 411 mg/L. 262 surface samples from 43 sites put it at 240.5 mg/L. In Boone County the wells come out 10.0 gpg harder. Groundwater sits in contact with rock for years and picks up calcium and magnesium as it goes, so wells usually read harder. A utility here that draws from the river can deliver noticeably different water from a private well next door.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 32,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 524 lb of salt a year (14 bags of 40 lb, about $94), and roughly 2,346 gallons of regeneration water. Installed, most units run $1,000 to $4,500; spread over 15 years with salt, that is about $194 a year.
Sizing at 24 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,440 | 24,000 | 175 lb |
| 2 | 2,880 | 24,000 | 350 lb |
| 4 | 5,760 | 48,000 | 701 lb |
| 6 | 8,640 | 64,000 | 1,051 lb |
Boone County against the rest of Missouri
Among the 110 Missouri counties with data, Boone County is number 7 of 110 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 91% of counties.
Softest in Missouri: Livingston County at 4.1 gpg. Hardest: Reynolds County at 96.7 gpg. Closest to Boone County: Franklin County (24), Henry County (21.4), Jackson County (26.9).