Kyle, TX water hardness
City of Kyle publishes a hardness range of 275 to 295 mg/L for its system, in its 2025 City of Kyle Annual Drinking Water Quality Report. On the USGS scale that is very hard water.
The published figure, exactly as it appears
This is the hardness line transcribed from the source, with nothing added:
The hardness of Kyle’s municipal drinking water can vary considerably depending on several factors, including the time of year. This is a result of the amount of groundwater we are using in the system at any given time. Groundwater resources are the primary contributors of hardness in our system. The range of hardness is 275-295 mg/L of total hardness (as CaCO3).
City of Kyle, 2025 City of Kyle Annual Drinking Water Quality Report
Units as published: mg/L. What kind of figure it is: a range with no average. Retrieved 2026-10-27.
Kyle hardness in mg/L and grains per gallon
Water-quality reports use mg/L (identical to ppm). Softener instructions and plumbing specifications use grains per gallon. Both are below. Where a figure is our arithmetic rather than the utility's own number, it says so.
| Figure | mg/L (ppm) | Grains per gallon | Whose number |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low end of published range | 275 | 16.1 | mg/L published, gpg is our conversion |
| High end of published range | 295 | 17.3 | mg/L published, gpg is our conversion |
| Plotted on the scale above | 285 | 16.7 | midpoint of the published range (no average is published); the gpg here is our conversion at 17.1, so it can differ slightly from a utility’s own rounded gpg figure |
The conversion, both ways: gpg = mg/L ÷ 17.1 and mg/L = gpg × 17.1. Worked for this system: 285 ÷ 17.1 = 16.7 gpg. The converter does °dH and °f as well, and why the factor is 17.1 explains where the number comes from.
What this figure does not tell you
Service area and source water
| Utility | City of Kyle |
|---|---|
| Public water system ID | TX1050002 |
| Service area as published | The City of Kyle public water system (TX1050002). Kyle is a separate utility from Austin Water, the City of San Marcos and the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority, which sell it water; this page does not describe their customers. |
| Source water | Five city wells (four listed as Edwards Aquifer groundwater, one as Barton Springs Aquifer groundwater), surface water purchased from the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority (GBRA) and from the City of San Marcos, and groundwater from the Alliance Regional Water Authority, per the report. |
Provenance of every number on this page
| Source document | 2025 City of Kyle Annual Drinking Water Quality Report |
|---|---|
| Source URL | https://www.cityofkyle.gov/media/5ahhau4d/2025-water-quality-report-v5.pdf |
| Published by | City of Kyle, Texas |
| Report year | 2025 |
| Year note | The report covers the period January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2025. Hardness is stated in a text paragraph headed “Hardness”; no table in the report lists hardness, calcium or magnesium. |
| Retrieved | 2026-10-27 |
| Classification bands | USGS Water Science School, retrieved 2026-10-16 |
Notes the report forces on this page
- The report gives a low and a high for its own system and no average, so the plotted point is the midpoint of that range and is not a figure the city published.
- The report says hardness varies with the time of year because the share of groundwater in the system changes; the range is the city’s own statement and no sample count or sampling schedule is given for it.
- The report prints its own classification (0 to 60 mg/L soft, 61 to 120 moderately hard, 121 to 180 hard, more than 180 very hard), which matches the USGS bands used on this site; the whole published range is very hard.
If you are sizing a softener for Kyle water
At 16.7 gpg, the sizing arithmetic starts from your household's water use, not from the hardness alone. The calculator below is pre-filled with this system's figure and every other input is an editable assumption.
Whether a softener is worth installing at this hardness is a judgement, not arithmetic, and it is not one this site makes for you. Nothing here has been tested by the author.
Where Kyle sits against other verified systems
- Portland, OR 9 mg/L 0.5 gpg Soft
- Boston, MA 16 mg/L 1 gpg Soft
- Manchester, NH 17.9 mg/L 1 gpg Soft
- Seattle, WA 19.1 mg/L 1.1 gpg Soft
- Raleigh, NC 25 mg/L 1.47 gpg Soft
- New York, NY 32 mg/L 2 gpg Soft
- Charlotte, NC 32 mg/L 1.9 gpg Soft
- Memphis, TN 46 mg/L 2.7 gpg Soft
- Norfolk, VA 48 mg/L 2.8 gpg Soft
- Anchorage, AK 56 mg/L 3.3 gpg Soft
- Virginia Beach, VA 56 mg/L 3.3 gpg Soft
- Oakland, CA 68.4 mg/L 4 gpg Moderately hard
- Nashville, TN 77.3 mg/L 4.5 gpg Moderately hard
- Sacramento, CA 83 mg/L 4.9 gpg Moderately hard
- Fresno, CA 89.3 mg/L 5.2 gpg Moderately hard
- Saint Paul, MN 90 mg/L 5 gpg Moderately hard
- Austin, TX 93 mg/L 5.4 gpg Moderately hard
- Minneapolis, MN 94 mg/L 5.5 gpg Moderately hard
- Washington, DC 95 mg/L 5.6 gpg Moderately hard
- Baltimore, MD 97.5 mg/L 5.7 gpg Moderately hard
- Birmingham, AL 98 mg/L 5.7 gpg Moderately hard
- Kansas City, MO 100 mg/L 5.8 gpg Moderately hard
- Lansing, MI 100 mg/L 5.8 gpg Moderately hard
- Denver, CO 105 mg/L 6.1 gpg Moderately hard
- Detroit, MI 107 mg/L 6.3 gpg Moderately hard
- Aurora, CO 113 mg/L 6.6 gpg Moderately hard
- Tulsa, OK 114.5 mg/L 6.7 gpg Moderately hard
- Louisville, KY 115 mg/L 6.7 gpg Moderately hard
- Columbus, OH 120 mg/L 7 gpg Moderately hard
- Cleveland, OH 120 mg/L 7 gpg Moderately hard
- Philadelphia, PA 125 mg/L 7.3 gpg Hard
- Ann Arbor, MI 126 mg/L 7.4 gpg Hard
- Cincinnati, OH 133 mg/L 7.8 gpg Hard
- Chicago, IL 134.5 mg/L 7.9 gpg Hard
- Houston, TX 135.5 mg/L 7.9 gpg Hard
- Milwaukee, WI 137 mg/L 8.01 gpg Hard
- St. Louis, MO 138 mg/L 8.1 gpg Hard
- Grand Rapids, MI 142 mg/L 8.3 gpg Hard
- Fort Worth, TX 145 mg/L 8.5 gpg Hard
- Spokane, WA 159 mg/L 9.3 gpg Hard
- Honolulu, HI 162.5 mg/L 9.5 gpg Hard
- Wichita, KS 170 mg/L 9.9 gpg Hard
- Omaha, NE 170 mg/L 10 gpg Hard
- Los Angeles, CA 192 mg/L 11.2 gpg Very hard
- Lincoln, NE 192 mg/L 11.2 gpg Very hard
- Riverside, CA 197 mg/L 12 gpg Very hard
- Tampa, FL 220 mg/L 12.9 gpg Very hard
- Phoenix, AZ 237 mg/L 13.9 gpg Very hard
- Mesa, AZ 239.4 mg/L 14 gpg Very hard
- Round Rock, TX 258 mg/L 15.1 gpg Very hard
- Pflugerville, TX 267 mg/L 15.6 gpg Very hard
- San Diego, CA 276 mg/L 16 gpg Very hard
- Las Vegas, NV 280 mg/L 16 gpg Very hard
- Chandler, AZ 282.2 mg/L 16.5 gpg Very hard
- Kyle, TX 285 mg/L 16.7 gpg Very hard
- San Antonio, TX 299.3 mg/L 17.5 gpg Very hard
- Anaheim, CA 300 mg/L 18 gpg Very hard
- Henderson, NV 304 mg/L 18 gpg Very hard
- Indianapolis, IN 317 mg/L 19 gpg Very hard
- Madison, WI 324.9 mg/L 19 gpg Very hard
- Scottsdale, AZ 352.5 mg/L 20.6 gpg Very hard
- 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.
Systems with similar published hardness
- Chandler, AZ City of Chandler, 282.2 mg/L (16.5 gpg)
- Las Vegas, NV Las Vegas Valley Water District, 280 mg/L (16.4 gpg)
- San Diego, CA City of San Diego Public Utilities Department, 276 mg/L (16.1 gpg)
- San Antonio, TX San Antonio Water System (SAWS), 299.3 mg/L (17.5 gpg)
All 62 verified systems How to find hardness in your own utility's report If you are on a well instead