WaterProfile Local

Your utility already published its hardness. Here it is, with the date.

Most "water hardness by ZIP code" pages are modelled guesses dressed as readings. A ZIP code is not a water system. This site does the slower, smaller thing: it reads the figure out of the utility's own water-quality report, records the report year and the units as published, converts it, and plots it on the USGS classification. 60 systems so far, because that is how many had a number someone could actually read.

See the 60 verified systems Convert a figure from your report
Soft Soft 0–60
Moderately hard Moderate 61–120
Hard Hard 121–180
Very hard Very hard 181+
  1. Portland, OR 9 mg/L 0.5 gpg Soft
  2. Boston, MA 16 mg/L 1 gpg Soft
  3. Manchester, NH 17.9 mg/L 1 gpg Soft
  4. Seattle, WA 19.1 mg/L 1.1 gpg Soft
  5. Raleigh, NC 25 mg/L 1.47 gpg Soft
  6. New York, NY 32 mg/L 2 gpg Soft
  7. Charlotte, NC 32 mg/L 1.9 gpg Soft
  8. Memphis, TN 46 mg/L 2.7 gpg Soft
  9. Norfolk, VA 48 mg/L 2.8 gpg Soft
  10. Anchorage, AK 56 mg/L 3.3 gpg Soft
  11. Virginia Beach, VA 56 mg/L 3.3 gpg Soft
  12. Oakland, CA 68.4 mg/L 4 gpg Moderately hard
  13. Nashville, TN 77.3 mg/L 4.5 gpg Moderately hard
  14. Sacramento, CA 83 mg/L 4.9 gpg Moderately hard
  15. Fresno, CA 89.3 mg/L 5.2 gpg Moderately hard
  16. Saint Paul, MN 90 mg/L 5 gpg Moderately hard
  17. Austin, TX 93 mg/L 5.4 gpg Moderately hard
  18. Minneapolis, MN 94 mg/L 5.5 gpg Moderately hard
  19. Washington, DC 95 mg/L 5.6 gpg Moderately hard
  20. Baltimore, MD 97.5 mg/L 5.7 gpg Moderately hard
  21. Birmingham, AL 98 mg/L 5.7 gpg Moderately hard
  22. Kansas City, MO 100 mg/L 5.8 gpg Moderately hard
  23. Denver, CO 105 mg/L 6.1 gpg Moderately hard
  24. Detroit, MI 107 mg/L 6.3 gpg Moderately hard
  25. Aurora, CO 113 mg/L 6.6 gpg Moderately hard
  26. Tulsa, OK 114.5 mg/L 6.7 gpg Moderately hard
  27. Louisville, KY 115 mg/L 6.7 gpg Moderately hard
  28. Columbus, OH 120 mg/L 7 gpg Moderately hard
  29. Cleveland, OH 120 mg/L 7 gpg Moderately hard
  30. Philadelphia, PA 125 mg/L 7.3 gpg Hard
  31. Ann Arbor, MI 126 mg/L 7.4 gpg Hard
  32. Cincinnati, OH 133 mg/L 7.8 gpg Hard
  33. Chicago, IL 134.5 mg/L 7.9 gpg Hard
  34. Houston, TX 135.5 mg/L 7.9 gpg Hard
  35. Milwaukee, WI 137 mg/L 8.01 gpg Hard
  36. St. Louis, MO 138 mg/L 8.1 gpg Hard
  37. Grand Rapids, MI 142 mg/L 8.3 gpg Hard
  38. Fort Worth, TX 145 mg/L 8.5 gpg Hard
  39. Spokane, WA 159 mg/L 9.3 gpg Hard
  40. Honolulu, HI 162.5 mg/L 9.5 gpg Hard
  41. Wichita, KS 170 mg/L 9.9 gpg Hard
  42. Omaha, NE 170 mg/L 10 gpg Hard
  43. Los Angeles, CA 192 mg/L 11.2 gpg Very hard
  44. Lincoln, NE 192 mg/L 11.2 gpg Very hard
  45. Riverside, CA 197 mg/L 12 gpg Very hard
  46. Tampa, FL 220 mg/L 12.9 gpg Very hard
  47. Phoenix, AZ 237 mg/L 13.9 gpg Very hard
  48. Mesa, AZ 239.4 mg/L 14 gpg Very hard
  49. Round Rock, TX 258 mg/L 15.1 gpg Very hard
  50. Pflugerville, TX 267 mg/L 15.6 gpg Very hard
  51. San Diego, CA 276 mg/L 16 gpg Very hard
  52. Las Vegas, NV 280 mg/L 16 gpg Very hard
  53. Chandler, AZ 282.2 mg/L 16.5 gpg Very hard
  54. San Antonio, TX 299.3 mg/L 17.5 gpg Very hard
  55. Anaheim, CA 300 mg/L 18 gpg Very hard
  56. Henderson, NV 304 mg/L 18 gpg Very hard
  57. Indianapolis, IN 317 mg/L 19 gpg Very hard
  58. Madison, WI 324.9 mg/L 19 gpg Very hard
  59. Scottsdale, AZ 352.5 mg/L 20.6 gpg Very hard
  60. Salt Lake City, UT 353.5 mg/L 20.7 gpg Very hard

mg/L as calcium carbonate. Each classification band is drawn the same width, so the axis is not linear in mg/L.

Every verified system, softest first. Boston's MWRA publishes about 16 mg/L; Citizens Energy Group publishes an Indianapolis average of 317 mg/L with a system-wide range reaching 460. Each row links to the published figure, its report year and the conversion. Grains per gallon are the utility's own figure where it published one, and our conversion at 17.1 mg/L per grain where it did not.

What a page here is made of

Tools

Water hardness converter

ppm and mg/L to grains per gallon, German degrees, French degrees and ppb, in both directions. Every formula is printed under the tool and the USGS class updates as you type.

Targets the conversion most people arrive needing: gpg = mg/L ÷ 17.1.

Softener grain capacity calculator

Hardness, people, gallons per person per day and days between regenerations, to the grain rating you need. Every assumption is a labelled, editable field, and the five arithmetic steps are shown with their running totals.

Exports CSV with each input marked input or assumption.

Start from your own report

If your utility is not among the 60 here, the figure may still exist. Start by finding which water system serves you — one free EPA search names it, a second finds its annual report — and then how to read a water quality report covers where hardness hides, which column heading you are reading, and when to stop looking and phone the utility instead. On a private well there is no report at all, which is a different problem.

Guides