How hard is the water in Steele County, MN?
19.7 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Steele County, MN is 337 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 19.7 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 22 samples at 9 sites between 1991 and 2023, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.
How much it varies here
Half the sites came in between 17.3 and 20.5 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: medium (how it is measured).
What to do next
At 19.7 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 8.8 to 21.7 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Steele County was 150 mg/L and the hardest 372 mg/L, a 2-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 20.5 gpg and the bottom quarter below 17.3 gpg.
What a softener would cost to run
For a household of 3, a 32,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 430 lb of salt a year (11 bags of 40 lb, about $77), 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 $177 a year.
Sizing at 19.7 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,182 | 24,000 | 144 lb |
| 2 | 2,364 | 24,000 | 288 lb |
| 4 | 4,728 | 40,000 | 575 lb |
| 6 | 7,092 | 64,000 | 863 lb |
Steele County against the rest of Minnesota
Among the 87 Minnesota counties with data, Steele County is number 29 of 87 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 83% of counties.
Softest in Minnesota: Lake County at 1.3 gpg. Hardest: Traverse County at 42.6 gpg. Closest to Steele County: Scott County (19.7), Stearns County (19.7), Murray County (19.6).