How hard is the water in Reynolds County, MO?
96.7 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Reynolds County, MO is 1655 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 96.7 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 59 samples at 30 sites between 1990 and 2026, 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 73.5 and 124.4 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 96.7 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 7.0 to 274.0 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Reynolds County was 119 mg/L and the hardest 4,690 mg/L, a 39-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 124.4 gpg and the bottom quarter below 73.5 gpg.
Wells 96.7 gpg, rivers and lakes 10.1 gpg
59 groundwater samples from 30 wells put the median at 1655 mg/L. 399 surface samples from 76 sites put it at 173.5 mg/L. In Reynolds County the wells come out 86.6 gpg harder. Groundwater sits in contact with rock for years and picks up calcium and magnesium as it goes, so wells usually read harder. 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 2,111 lb of salt a year (53 bags of 40 lb, about $380), 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 $480 a year.
Sizing at 96.7 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5,802 | 48,000 | 706 lb |
| 2 | 11,604 | twin tank | 1,412 lb |
| 4 | 23,208 | twin tank | 2,824 lb |
| 6 | 34,812 | twin tank | 4,235 lb |
Reynolds County against the rest of Missouri
Among the 110 Missouri counties with data, Reynolds County is the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 99% of counties.
Softest in Missouri: Livingston County at 4.1 gpg. Closest to Reynolds County: Randolph County (56.5), St. Francois County (35.2), Howard County (34.3).