How hard is the water in Stark County, IL?
21.9 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Stark County, IL is 375 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 21.9 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 232 samples at 13 sites between 1990 and 2002, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 20.6 and 22.9 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: high (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 21.9 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 19.2 to 26.1 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Stark County was 329 mg/L and the hardest 447 mg/L, a 1-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 22.9 gpg and the bottom quarter below 20.6 gpg.
Wells 22.7 gpg, rivers and lakes 21 gpg
5 groundwater samples from 4 wells put the median at 388.5 mg/L. 227 surface samples from 9 sites put it at 360 mg/L. In Stark County the wells come out 1.7 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 478 lb of salt a year (12 bags of 40 lb, about $86), 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 $186 a year.
Sizing at 21.9 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,314 | 24,000 | 160 lb |
| 2 | 2,628 | 24,000 | 320 lb |
| 4 | 5,256 | 40,000 | 639 lb |
| 6 | 7,884 | 64,000 | 959 lb |
Stark County against the rest of Illinois
Among the 102 Illinois counties with data, Stark County is number 16 of 102 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 88% of counties.
Softest in Illinois: Pope County at 4.3 gpg. Hardest: Cook County at 34.8 gpg. Closest to Stark County: Kendall County (21.8), Logan County (21.7), Stephenson County (21.6).