How hard is the water in Fremont County, CO?
21.7 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Fremont County, CO is 372 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 21.7 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 39 samples at 31 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 15.5 and 36.8 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 21.7 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 6.1 to 284.5 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Fremont County was 105 mg/L and the hardest 4,870 mg/L, a 46-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 36.8 gpg and the bottom quarter below 15.5 gpg.
Wells 21.7 gpg, rivers and lakes 10.4 gpg
39 groundwater samples from 31 wells put the median at 372 mg/L. 1,546 surface samples from 109 sites put it at 178 mg/L. In Fremont County the wells come out 11.3 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 475 lb of salt a year (12 bags of 40 lb, about $85), 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 $185 a year.
Sizing at 21.7 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,302 | 24,000 | 158 lb |
| 2 | 2,604 | 24,000 | 317 lb |
| 4 | 5,208 | 40,000 | 634 lb |
| 6 | 7,812 | 64,000 | 950 lb |
Fremont County against the rest of Colorado
Among the 63 Colorado counties with data, Fremont County is number 18 of 63 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 88% of counties.
Softest in Colorado: Larimer County at 0.4 gpg. Hardest: Mesa County at 143.7 gpg. Closest to Fremont County: Logan County (22.1), Eagle County (22.1), Washington County (22.5).