How hard is the water in Houston County, AL?
5.4 grains per gallon
Optional: a softener helps, but plenty of homes skip it.
The median hardness measured in Houston County, AL is 93 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 5.4 gpg. That is moderately hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 14 samples at 6 sites between 1991 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 4.1 and 6.2 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: medium (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 5.4 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.
More on when a softener is not worth it.
From 0.3 to 8.8 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Houston County was 5.2 mg/L and the hardest 150 mg/L, a 29-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 6.2 gpg and the bottom quarter below 4.1 gpg.
Wells 5.4 gpg, rivers and lakes 3 gpg
14 groundwater samples from 6 wells put the median at 93.1 mg/L. 299 surface samples from 36 sites put it at 50.7 mg/L. In Houston County the wells come out 2.4 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 119 lb of salt a year (3 bags of 40 lb, about $21), 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 $121 a year.
Sizing at 5.4 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 324 | 24,000 | 39 lb |
| 2 | 648 | 24,000 | 79 lb |
| 4 | 1,296 | 24,000 | 158 lb |
| 6 | 1,944 | 24,000 | 237 lb |
Houston County against the rest of Alabama
Among the 67 Alabama counties with data, Houston County is number 11 of 67 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 32% of counties.
Softest in Alabama: Washington County at 0.2 gpg. Hardest: Walker County at 13.1 gpg. Closest to Houston County: Blount County (5.4), Etowah County (5.5), Franklin County (5.6).