How hard is the water in Fremont County, WY?
10.4 grains per gallon
A softener is worth it here.
The median hardness measured in Fremont County, WY is 178 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 10.4 gpg. That is hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 186 samples at 180 sites between 1990 and 2023, 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 4.6 and 20.5 gpg. That spread crosses a decision line, so some homes here land on a different answer. A $10 test strip on your own tap settles it. Confidence in the county figure: high (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 10.4 gpg a softener is worth getting, mainly to protect the water heater and cut soap use. Get at least two quotes, ask each installer what grain capacity they are fitting, and check it against the sizing table below. Because Fremont County straddles a decision line, check your own tap with a $10 test strip before you spend anything.
More on sizing a softener for your household.
From 0.0 to 185.2 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Fremont County was 0.8 mg/L and the hardest 3,170 mg/L, a 3,963-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 20.5 gpg and the bottom quarter below 4.6 gpg. So even here some sites draw water soft enough to need nothing at all.
Wells 10.4 gpg, rivers and lakes 10.1 gpg
186 groundwater samples from 180 wells put the median at 177.5 mg/L. 584 surface samples from 97 sites put it at 173.5 mg/L. In Fremont County the wells come out 0.3 gpg harder. Groundwater sits in contact with rock for years and picks up calcium and magnesium as it goes, so wells usually read harder. The two sources are close, so the county figure should hold whichever one your tap is on.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 226 lb of salt a year (6 bags of 40 lb, about $41), 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 $141 a year.
Sizing at 10.4 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 624 | 24,000 | 76 lb |
| 2 | 1,248 | 24,000 | 152 lb |
| 4 | 2,496 | 24,000 | 304 lb |
| 6 | 3,744 | 32,000 | 456 lb |
Fremont County against the rest of Wyoming
Among the 23 Wyoming counties with data, Fremont County is number 16 of 23 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 52% of counties.
Softest in Wyoming: Park County at 1.4 gpg. Hardest: Natrona County at 124.4 gpg. Closest to Fremont County: Niobrara County (10), Albany County (11.4), Goshen County (11.4).