How hard is the water in Natrona County, WY?
124.4 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Natrona County, WY is 2130 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 124.4 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 22 samples at 16 sites between 1990 and 2023, 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 49 and 204.9 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 124.4 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 15.0 to 291.5 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Natrona County was 256 mg/L and the hardest 4,990 mg/L, a 19-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 204.9 gpg and the bottom quarter below 49 gpg.
Wells 124.4 gpg, rivers and lakes 49.9 gpg
22 groundwater samples from 16 wells put the median at 2130 mg/L. 433 surface samples from 52 sites put it at 853.8 mg/L. In Natrona County the wells come out 74.5 gpg harder. Groundwater sits in contact with rock for years and picks up calcium and magnesium as it goes, so wells usually read harder. A utility here that draws from the river can deliver noticeably different water from a private well next door.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, the water is harder than a standard single tank handles in a week, so plan on a larger or twin-tank unit. Expect about 2,717 lb of salt a year (68 bags of 40 lb, about $489), 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 $589 a year.
Sizing at 124.4 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7,464 | 64,000 | 908 lb |
| 2 | 14,928 | twin tank | 1,816 lb |
| 4 | 29,856 | twin tank | 3,632 lb |
| 6 | 44,784 | twin tank | 5,449 lb |
Natrona County against the rest of Wyoming
Among the 23 Wyoming counties with data, Natrona County is the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 100% of counties.
Softest in Wyoming: Park County at 1.4 gpg. Closest to Natrona County: Crook County (30.7), Big Horn County (26.4), Sheridan County (24.3).