How hard is the water in New York County, NY?

161.1 grains per gallon

A softener will pay its way here.

The median hardness measured in New York County, NY is 2758 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 161.1 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 5 samples at 2 sites between 2017 and 2017, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.

How much it varies here

Half the sites came in between 140.3 and 181.9 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: low (how it is measured).

What to do next

At 161.1 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 119.5 to 202.7 gpg

The softest single sample on record in New York County was 2045 mg/L and the hardest 3,470 mg/L, a 2-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 181.9 gpg and the bottom quarter below 140.3 gpg.

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 3,518 lb of salt a year (88 bags of 40 lb, about $633), 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 $733 a year.

Sizing at 161.1 gpg

New York County against the rest of New York

Among the 61 New York counties with data, New York County is the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 100% of counties.

Softest in New York: Suffolk County at 1.6 gpg. Closest to New York County: Niagara County (78.9), Monroe County (25.7), Queens County (24).