How hard is the water in Musselshell County, MT?
38.1 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Musselshell County, MT is 652 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 38.1 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 167 samples at 41 sites between 1990 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 26 and 69.5 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: high (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 38.1 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 4.6 to 186.9 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Musselshell County was 78.2 mg/L and the hardest 3,200 mg/L, a 41-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 69.5 gpg and the bottom quarter below 26 gpg.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 48,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 832 lb of salt a year (21 bags of 40 lb, about $150), 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 $250 a year.
Sizing at 38.1 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2,286 | 24,000 | 278 lb |
| 2 | 4,572 | 40,000 | 556 lb |
| 4 | 9,144 | 80,000 | 1,113 lb |
| 6 | 13,716 | twin tank | 1,669 lb |
Musselshell County against the rest of Montana
Among the 56 Montana counties with data, Musselshell County is number 9 of 56 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 97% of counties.
Softest in Montana: Lincoln County at 3.4 gpg. Hardest: Rosebud County at 138.9 gpg. Closest to Musselshell County: Toole County (38.1), Golden Valley County (37.7), Big Horn County (32.1).