How hard is the water in Henrico County, VA?

1.8 grains per gallon

You do not need a softener here.

The median hardness measured in Henrico County, VA is 30 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 1.8 gpg. That is soft on the USGS scale. It comes from 600 samples at 49 sites between 1991 and 2026, 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 and 2.4 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

You can skip the softener. At 1.8 gpg the most a softener would fix is the odd water spot. If a salesperson in Henrico 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 0.3 to 5.1 gpg

The softest single sample on record in Henrico County was 5 mg/L and the hardest 87.8 mg/L, an 18-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 2.4 gpg and the bottom quarter below 1 gpg.

Wells 2.9 gpg, rivers and lakes 1.8 gpg

2 groundwater samples from 2 wells put the median at 49.7 mg/L. 595 surface samples from 46 sites put it at 30.3 mg/L. In Henrico County the wells come out 1.1 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.

Henrico County against the rest of Virginia

Among the 126 Virginia counties with data, Henrico County is number 77 of 126 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 14% of counties.

Softest in Virginia: Isle of Wight County at 0.4 gpg. Hardest: Clarke County at 20.1 gpg. Closest to Henrico County: Powhatan County (1.7), Charlottesville city (1.7), Amelia County (1.8).