How hard is the water in Hidalgo County, TX?

16.1 grains per gallon

A softener will pay its way here.

The median hardness measured in Hidalgo County, TX is 276 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 16.1 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 188 samples at 2 sites between 1990 and 2000, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.

How much it varies here

Half the sites came in between 16 and 16.2 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: low (how it is measured).

What to do next

At 16.1 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 15.9 to 16.2 gpg

The softest single sample on record in Hidalgo County was 273 mg/L and the hardest 278 mg/L, a 1-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 16.2 gpg and the bottom quarter below 16 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 351 lb of salt a year (9 bags of 40 lb, about $63), 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 $163 a year.

Sizing at 16.1 gpg

Hidalgo County against the rest of Texas

Among the 217 Texas counties with data, Hidalgo County is number 85 of 217 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 73% of counties.

Softest in Texas: Nacogdoches County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Ward County at 218.5 gpg. Closest to Hidalgo County: Briscoe County (16.1), Caldwell County (16.3), Mills County (16.3).