How hard is the water in Clearfield County, PA?
38.5 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Clearfield County, PA is 659 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 38.5 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 580 samples at 61 sites between 1990 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 14 and 82.4 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 38.5 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 0.0 to 156.0 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Clearfield County was 0.2 mg/L and the hardest 2,670 mg/L, a 13,350-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 82.4 gpg and the bottom quarter below 14 gpg. So even here some sites draw water soft enough to need nothing at all.
Wells 38.5 gpg, rivers and lakes 8.8 gpg
580 groundwater samples from 61 wells put the median at 659 mg/L. 968 surface samples from 116 sites put it at 149.8 mg/L. In Clearfield County the wells come out 29.7 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 64,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 841 lb of salt a year (22 bags of 40 lb, about $151), 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 $251 a year.
Sizing at 38.5 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2,310 | 24,000 | 281 lb |
| 2 | 4,620 | 40,000 | 562 lb |
| 4 | 9,240 | 80,000 | 1,124 lb |
| 6 | 13,860 | twin tank | 1,686 lb |
Clearfield County against the rest of Pennsylvania
Among the 67 Pennsylvania counties with data, Clearfield County is number 3 of 67 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 97% of counties.
Softest in Pennsylvania: Cameron County at 1.4 gpg. Hardest: Clarion County at 68.2 gpg. Closest to Clearfield County: Armstrong County (31.7), Cambria County (28.6), Washington County (27.1).