How hard is my water, and do I need a softener?
Type your county to see how hard its water measures in grains per gallon, the unit softener sellers quote, and a straight answer on whether a softener is worth buying. In a lot of the country it is not.
3,035 counties, from 607,842 lab samples in the USGS and EPA Water Quality Portal.
Skip it
Soft to slightly hard. A softener here is money for nothing.
24% of counties
Your call
Some spotting and slow scale. Plenty of homes live with it.
14% of counties
Worth it
Scale on fixtures, shorter heater life, more soap.
14% of counties
Pays its way
Crust on every faucet. Savings on heater and appliances add up.
47% of counties
What a county number cannot see
If you are on a private well, your water can be far harder or softer than the county median, because two wells a mile apart can draw from different rock. If you are on city water, your utility's annual water quality report lists hardness for the exact supply you get. Either way, a test strip from a hardware store costs about $10 and beats any map. The county figure is where to start, and a good check on a quote that sounds too urgent.