How hard is the water in Lincoln County, WI?
2.5 grains per gallon
You do not need a softener here.
The median hardness measured in Lincoln County, WI is 42 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 2.5 gpg. That is soft on the USGS scale. It comes from 76 samples at 7 sites between 1990 and 2013, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 1.9 and 4.3 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
You can skip the softener. At 2.5 gpg the most a softener would fix is the odd water spot. If a salesperson in Lincoln County says otherwise, ask to see their reading in grains per gallon and compare it with this one. Because Lincoln 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 1.7 to 4.9 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Lincoln County was 29.5 mg/L and the hardest 84.6 mg/L, a 3-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 4.3 gpg and the bottom quarter below 1.9 gpg.
Wells 4.9 gpg, rivers and lakes 2.3 gpg
1 groundwater samples from 1 wells put the median at 84.6 mg/L. 75 surface samples from 6 sites put it at 38.8 mg/L. In Lincoln County the wells come out 2.6 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.
Lincoln County against the rest of Wisconsin
Among the 72 Wisconsin counties with data, Lincoln County is number 65 of 72 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 19% of counties.
Softest in Wisconsin: Vilas County at 1.4 gpg. Hardest: Calumet County at 28.4 gpg. Closest to Lincoln County: Chippewa County (2.4), Price County (2.5), Oneida County (2.3).