How hard is the water in Hancock County, WV?
5.9 grains per gallon
Optional: a softener helps, but plenty of homes skip it.
The median hardness measured in Hancock County, WV is 101 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 5.9 gpg. That is moderately hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 368 samples at 3 sites between 1992 and 2025, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 5.9 and 8.3 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: medium (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 5.9 gpg this is your call. Look for white film on glasses and crust on the shower head: if you see little of either, you can live without one. If you do want one, a 24,000-grain unit is enough, so ask for that size rather than a bigger one. Because Hancock County straddles a decision line, check your own tap with a $10 test strip before you spend anything.
More on when a softener is not worth it.
From 5.8 to 10.7 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Hancock County was 100 mg/L and the hardest 182.5 mg/L, a 2-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 8.3 gpg and the bottom quarter below 5.9 gpg.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 129 lb of salt a year (4 bags of 40 lb, about $23), 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 $123 a year.
Sizing at 5.9 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 354 | 24,000 | 43 lb |
| 2 | 708 | 24,000 | 86 lb |
| 4 | 1,416 | 24,000 | 172 lb |
| 6 | 2,124 | 24,000 | 258 lb |
Hancock County against the rest of West Virginia
Among the 54 West Virginia counties with data, Hancock County is number 31 of 54 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 34% of counties.
Softest in West Virginia: Calhoun County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Jefferson County at 20.4 gpg. Closest to Hancock County: Morgan County (5.8), Pleasants County (6), Lewis County (5.8).