How hard is the water in Carlisle County, KY?
2 grains per gallon
You do not need a softener here.
The median hardness measured in Carlisle County, KY is 34 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 2 gpg. That is soft on the USGS scale. It comes from 88 samples at 2 sites between 1999 and 2007, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 1.9 and 2.1 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: low (how it is measured).
What to do next
You can skip the softener. At 2 gpg the most a softener would fix is the odd water spot. If a salesperson in Carlisle County says otherwise, ask to see their reading in grains per gallon and compare it with this one.
More on when a softener is not worth it.
From 1.7 to 2.2 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Carlisle County was 29.9 mg/L and the hardest 37.7 mg/L, a 1-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 2.1 gpg and the bottom quarter below 1.9 gpg.
Carlisle County against the rest of Kentucky
Among the 104 Kentucky counties with data, Carlisle County is number 100 of 104 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 16% of counties.
Softest in Kentucky: Letcher County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Jefferson County at 32.9 gpg. Closest to Carlisle County: Casey County (2), Bell County (2.1), Hickman County (1.8).