Water hardness in Nebraska
Nebraska has a median ambient water hardness of 233 mg/L, which is 13.6 grains per gallon and classes as very hard. That is the middle of 24,595 samples across 93 counties.
This is ambient water, not tap water. These figures come from samples taken from wells, streams and springs by USGS, EPA and state agencies. Municipal utilities treat, blend and sometimes soften water before it reaches a tap, so a city supply can be considerably softer than the ground beneath it. Treat this as a good guide for a private well and an approximate one for city water. Your utility's annual water quality report gives the real number for a municipal tap, and a test strip gives it for yours.
Every monitored county in Nebraska
Ranked hardest first. The middle 50% column shows how much the samples within a county vary, which matters more than the median where a county spans two geologies.
| County | mg/L | gpg | Class | Middle 50% | Samples |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deuel County | 660 | 38.6 | Very hard | 510 to 710 | 49 |
| Keith County | 550 | 32.1 | Very hard | 220 to 700 | 155 |
| Wayne County | 424 | 24.8 | Very hard | 381 to 882 | 30 |
| Boyd County | 420 | 24.5 | Very hard | 310 to 580 | 36 |
| Washington County | 420 | 24.5 | Very hard | 344 to 576 | 97 |
| Burt County | 363 | 21.2 | Very hard | 310 to 441 | 185 |
| Kearney County | 350 | 20.4 | Very hard | 250 to 400 | 127 |
| Hamilton County | 346 | 20.2 | Very hard | 260 to 900 | 202 |
| Stanton County | 331 | 19.3 | Very hard | 210 to 371 | 72 |
| Thurston County | 327 | 19.1 | Very hard | 285 to 390 | 432 |
| Fillmore County | 320 | 18.7 | Very hard | 200 to 460 | 37 |
| Lancaster County | 310 | 18.1 | Very hard | 240 to 357 | 1,704 |
| Phelps County | 310 | 18.1 | Very hard | 260 to 370 | 65 |
| Valley County | 309 | 18.1 | Very hard | 250 to 370 | 222 |
| Buffalo County | 303 | 17.7 | Very hard | 240 to 398 | 394 |
| Greeley County | 290 | 16.9 | Very hard | 250 to 320 | 36 |
| Hall County | 290 | 16.9 | Very hard | 200 to 380 | 465 |
| Saunders County | 290 | 16.9 | Very hard | 220 to 340 | 167 |
| Pawnee County | 289 | 16.9 | Very hard | 285 to 330 | 5 |
| Richardson County | 284 | 16.6 | Very hard | 263 to 331 | 662 |
| Dawson County | 280 | 16.4 | Very hard | 260 to 320 | 560 |
| Furnas County | 280 | 16.4 | Very hard | 200 to 370 | 277 |
| Johnson County | 280 | 16.4 | Very hard | 263 to 490 | 13 |
| Scotts Bluff County | 279 | 16.3 | Very hard | 220 to 333 | 1,087 |
| Polk County | 276 | 16.1 | Very hard | 250 to 314 | 23 |
| Cuming County | 270 | 15.8 | Very hard | 195 to 360 | 263 |
| Platte County | 270 | 15.8 | Very hard | 240 to 308 | 379 |
| Dodge County | 267 | 15.6 | Very hard | 190 to 361 | 962 |
| Douglas County | 260 | 15.2 | Very hard | 210 to 306 | 1,566 |
| Garden County | 260 | 15.2 | Very hard | 123 to 290 | 518 |
| Merrick County | 260 | 15.2 | Very hard | 234 to 297 | 551 |
| Cedar County | 258 | 15.1 | Very hard | 230 to 477 | 146 |
| Dixon County | 255 | 14.9 | Very hard | 239 to 280 | 71 |
| Cass County | 250 | 14.6 | Very hard | 200 to 328 | 281 |
| Clay County | 250 | 14.6 | Very hard | 167 to 280 | 46 |
| Dakota County | 250 | 14.6 | Very hard | 240 to 318 | 188 |
| Gosper County | 250 | 14.6 | Very hard | 230 to 290 | 42 |
| Harlan County | 250 | 14.6 | Very hard | 230 to 290 | 207 |
| Nemaha County | 250 | 14.6 | Very hard | 220 to 268 | 152 |
| Webster County | 250 | 14.6 | Very hard | 217 to 280 | 325 |
| York County | 250 | 14.6 | Very hard | 215 to 301 | 176 |
| Dundy County | 240 | 14 | Very hard | 205 to 310 | 541 |
| Red Willow County | 237 | 13.8 | Very hard | 202 to 361 | 88 |
| Lincoln County | 230 | 13.4 | Very hard | 185 to 297 | 439 |
| Morrill County | 230 | 13.4 | Very hard | 158 to 278 | 158 |
| Otoe County | 230 | 13.4 | Very hard | 210 to 250 | 581 |
| Sioux County | 229 | 13.4 | Very hard | 191 to 261 | 756 |
| Franklin County | 220 | 12.9 | Very hard | 180 to 260 | 26 |
| Sarpy County | 220 | 12.9 | Very hard | 181 to 255 | 1,017 |
| Antelope County | 212 | 12.4 | Very hard | 185 to 238 | 57 |
| Gage County | 210 | 12.3 | Very hard | 150 to 250 | 311 |
| Hitchcock County | 210 | 12.3 | Very hard | 190 to 240 | 249 |
| Kimball County | 210 | 12.3 | Very hard | 180 to 230 | 40 |
| Pierce County | 210 | 12.3 | Very hard | 190 to 240 | 108 |
| Seward County | 210 | 12.3 | Very hard | 140 to 240 | 790 |
| Frontier County | 200 | 11.7 | Very hard | 190 to 236 | 56 |
| Colfax County | 197 | 11.5 | Very hard | 140 to 327 | 100 |
| Butler County | 190 | 11.1 | Very hard | 99 to 280 | 100 |
| Custer County | 190 | 11.1 | Very hard | 130 to 240 | 71 |
| Saline County | 190 | 11.1 | Very hard | 120 to 227 | 343 |
| Nuckolls County | 187 | 10.9 | Very hard | 155 to 199 | 327 |
| Adams County | 180 | 10.5 | Hard | 159 to 210 | 77 |
| Howard County | 180 | 10.5 | Hard | 110 to 282 | 480 |
| Boone County | 170 | 9.9 | Hard | 110 to 220 | 51 |
| Hayes County | 168 | 9.8 | Hard | 160 to 180 | 45 |
| Box Butte County | 166 | 9.7 | Hard | 148 to 223 | 22 |
| Jefferson County | 161 | 9.4 | Hard | 120 to 250 | 51 |
| Sheridan County | 160 | 9.3 | Hard | 140 to 170 | 74 |
| Perkins County | 152 | 8.9 | Hard | 136 to 162 | 76 |
| Banner County | 150 | 8.8 | Hard | 100 to 212 | 83 |
| Dawes County | 150 | 8.8 | Hard | 140 to 160 | 35 |
| Madison County | 150 | 8.8 | Hard | 140 to 170 | 343 |
| Chase County | 141 | 8.2 | Hard | 132 to 158 | 102 |
| Cheyenne County | 138 | 8.1 | Hard | 98 to 180 | 96 |
| Nance County | 129 | 7.5 | Hard | 116 to 152 | 626 |
| Knox County | 124 | 7.2 | Hard | 110 to 233 | 312 |
| Rock County | 124 | 7.2 | Hard | 99 to 128 | 66 |
| Thayer County | 124 | 7.2 | Hard | 110 to 170 | 39 |
| Sherman County | 105 | 6.1 | Moderately hard | 86 to 250 | 105 |
| Holt County | 99 | 5.8 | Moderately hard | 81 to 132 | 883 |
| Keya Paha County | 95 | 5.5 | Moderately hard | 91 to 100 | 232 |
| Cherry County | 92 | 5.4 | Moderately hard | 87 to 97 | 284 |
| Wheeler County | 86 | 5 | Moderately hard | 74 to 110 | 22 |
| Grant County | 79 | 4.6 | Moderately hard | 59 to 100 | 4 |
| Logan County | 77 | 4.5 | Moderately hard | 47 to 101 | 17 |
| Brown County | 74 | 4.3 | Moderately hard | 66 to 80 | 734 |
| Thomas County | 71 | 4.1 | Moderately hard | 69 to 73 | 302 |
| Blaine County | 68 | 4 | Moderately hard | 65 to 71 | 31 |
| Loup County | 66 | 3.9 | Moderately hard | 63 to 70 | 92 |
| McPherson County | 63 | 3.7 | Moderately hard | 51 to 89 | 43 |
| Arthur County | 56 | 3.3 | Soft | 51 to 60 | 17 |
| Garfield County | 56 | 3.3 | Soft | 53 to 58 | 114 |
| Hooker County | 48 | 2.8 | Soft | 43 to 52 | 4 |
Source: Water Quality Portal (USGS, EPA and state agencies), waterqualitydata.us, retrieved 2026-09-19. 2,904,346 samples across 3,110 counties.
What this means for a household in Nebraska
At 13.6 grains per gallon, a family of four would need a softener of about 32,000 grains to regenerate roughly weekly, using around 557 lb of salt a year. Size it for your own household.
93 of these counties include well samples, so the figures are a reasonable guide for private well water there. Municipal supplies in the same counties may be softer, because utilities often blend or treat.
Hardness follows geology rather than borders. Where a county sits on limestone or dolomite the water is hard; on granite, basalt or sandstone it is soft. That is why neighbouring counties in this table can differ by a factor of several.