How hard is the water in Young County, TX?

52.1 grains per gallon

A softener will pay its way here.

The median hardness measured in Young County, TX is 893 mg/L as calcium carbonate, which is 52.1 gpg. That is very hard on the USGS scale. It comes from 16 samples at 1 sites between 1990 and 1992, drawn from every sampling site in the county, wells and surface water together.

How much it varies here

Half the sites came in between 52.1 and 52.1 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 52.1 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 52.1 to 52.1 gpg

The softest single sample on record in Young County was 892.5 mg/L and the hardest 892.5 mg/L, a 1-fold gap. The top quarter of sites read above 52.1 gpg and the bottom quarter below 52.1 gpg.

What a softener would cost to run

For a household of 3, a 80,000-grain unit covers a week between regenerations. Expect about 1,139 lb of salt a year (29 bags of 40 lb, about $205), 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 $305 a year.

Sizing at 52.1 gpg

Young County against the rest of Texas

Among the 217 Texas counties with data, Young County is number 16 of 217 counting from the hardest. Across the whole country it is harder than 98% of counties.

Softest in Texas: Nacogdoches County at 0.3 gpg. Hardest: Ward County at 218.5 gpg. Closest to Young County: Knox County (47.9), Pecos County (46), Baylor County (45.3).