How hard is the water in Logan County, OH?
21.5 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Logan County, OH is 369 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 21.5 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 9 samples at 6 sites between 1990 and 2024, 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 20.9 and 22.5 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 21.5 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 17.6 to 24.8 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Logan County was 301.5 mg/L and the hardest 424 mg/L, a 1-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 22.5 gpg and the bottom quarter below 20.9 gpg.
Wells 21.5 gpg, rivers and lakes 21.3 gpg
9 groundwater samples from 6 wells put the median at 368.5 mg/L. 492 surface samples from 82 sites put it at 364.5 mg/L. In Logan County the wells come out 0.2 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 32,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 470 lb of salt a year (12 bags of 40 lb, about $85), 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 $185 a year.
Sizing at 21.5 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,290 | 24,000 | 157 lb |
| 2 | 2,580 | 24,000 | 314 lb |
| 4 | 5,160 | 40,000 | 628 lb |
| 6 | 7,740 | 64,000 | 942 lb |
Logan County against the rest of Ohio
Among the 88 Ohio counties with data, Logan County is number 20 of 88 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 87% of counties.
Softest in Ohio: Scioto County at 5.7 gpg. Hardest: Perry County at 113.3 gpg. Closest to Logan County: Stark County (21.6), Belmont County (22.1), Montgomery County (21).