How hard is the water in Travis County, TX?
18.9 grains per gallon
A softener will pay its way here.
The median hardness measured in Travis County, TX is 323 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 18.9 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 1,008 samples at 52 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 17.7 and 20.9 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 18.9 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 11.7 to 38.6 gpg
The softest single sample on record in Travis County was 200.8 mg/L and the hardest 661 mg/L, a 3-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 20.9 gpg and the bottom quarter below 17.7 gpg.
Wells 18.9 gpg, rivers and lakes 10.6 gpg
1,008 groundwater samples from 52 wells put the median at 322.8 mg/L. 347 surface samples from 22 sites put it at 181.5 mg/L. In Travis County the wells come out 8.3 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, a 24,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 412 lb of salt a year (11 bags of 40 lb, about $74), 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 $174 a year.
Sizing at 18.9 gpg
| People | Grains a day | Unit | Salt a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,134 | 24,000 | 138 lb |
| 2 | 2,268 | 24,000 | 276 lb |
| 4 | 4,536 | 32,000 | 552 lb |
| 6 | 6,804 | 48,000 | 828 lb |
Travis County against the rest of Texas
Among the 217 Texas counties with data, Travis County is number 62 of 217 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 81% of counties.
Softest in Texas: Nacogdoches County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Ward County at 218.5 gpg. Closest to Travis County: Callahan County (18.6), Randall County (19.2), Williamson County (19.2).