Water wells in Harris County, Texas
40,394 well reports on file. The median well here was taken to 35 ft and struck water at 80 ft — against 180 ft and 80 ft across Texas.
What you will drill through in Harris County
| Depth, ft | What was logged there |
|---|---|
| 0–25 ft | Clay 8,085, Sand 3,080, Concrete 3,185, No Recovery 1,490, Top Soil 1,483, Asphalt 1,224 |
| 25–50 ft | Sand 3,040, Clay 2,907, Red Clay 442, No Recovery 321, Clay, Red 368, Rock 289 |
| 50–100 ft | Sand 4,247, Clay 3,525, Red Clay 265, Rock 249, Sand, Clay 187, Clay, Sand 185 |
| 100–200 ft | Sand 5,626, Clay 5,168, Rock 630, Clay, Sand 308, Sand, Clay 308, Blue Clay 247 |
| 200–300 ft | Sand 5,372, Clay 3,391, Rock 524, Shale 180, Sand, Clay 200, Clay, Sand 205 |
| 300–500 ft | Sand 2,410, Clay 1,181, Rock 182, Shale 75, Clay-Red 58, Sand .008 54 |
| 500–1000 ft | Sand 272, Clay 207, Clay (Gray) 29, Sand/Clay 27, Shale 21, Clay/Sand 21 |
| 1000–5000 ft | Sand 133, Clay 111, Clay (Gray) 20, Sandy Clay 20, Sand/Clay 15, Clay (Bluish Gray) 7 |
The rock column here is what drillers wrote down, layer by layer, in their own words — 5,345,462 layers across 707,856 wells. It is not a geological survey: two drillers may call the same clay by two names, and this site does not correct them.
Who drills in Harris County
What the wells are for
| Purpose | Wells | Share | Median depth, ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monitor | 20,583 | 51.0% | 30 |
| Domestic | 8,171 | 20.2% | 265 |
| Environmental Soil Boring | 5,446 | 13.5% | 15 |
| Test Well | 1,338 | 3.3% | 25 |
| Injection | 1,205 | 3.0% | 39 |
| Other | 926 | 2.3% | 47 |
| Public Supply | 834 | 2.1% | 436 |
| Irrigation | 741 | 1.8% | 250 |
| Decade | Reports | Median depth, ft | Water at, ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1900s | 1 | 20 | — |
| 1960s | 1 | 2,196 | 155 |
| 1970s | 6 | 1,504 | 214 |
| 1980s | 3 | 703 | 259 |
| 1990s | 17 | 260 | 98 |
| 2000s | 15,210 | 40 | 90 |
| 2010s | 16,758 | 32 | 70 |
| 2020s | 8,398 | 30 | 85 |
The deepest reports on file
| Report | Year | Depth, ft | Water at, ft | Yield, gpm | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 49202 | 2004 | 2,900 | 210 | 1,001 | Public Supply |
| 347799 | 2013 | 2,855 | 125 | 40 | Domestic |
| 622969 | 1979 | 2,595 | — | — | Test Well |
| 58644 | 2005 | 2,500 | 364 | 1,248 | Public Supply |
| 674394 | 2024 | 2,445 | 75 | 40 | Domestic |
| 36649 | 2004 | 2,280 | 204 | 1,500 | Public Supply |
| 269228 | 2011 | 2,220 | 120 | 10 | Domestic |
| 622968 | 1965 | 2,196 | 155 | 2,260 | Public Supply |
| 13152 | 2002 | 2,196 | 126 | 1,804 | Public Supply |
| 117233 | 2007 | 2,120 | 105 | 50 | Domestic |
Every figure on this site is a median, never an average. On reported yield the average is twice the median, because a handful of entries are typing errors — the largest reads 2,200,100 gallons per minute against 30,078 for the next one. Yields above 3,000 gpm (136 wells, 0.045%) and depths beyond 5,000 ft (103 wells, 0.016%) are kept in the file, marked, and left out of the medians.
Drilling a well in Harris County?
Depth is only half the quote. What it costs depends on the rock, the casing and the pump. Tell us where and we pass the request to licensed Texas drillers.
We are nobody's agent and have no arrangement with any firm today. What we do with this.
Counties with a comparable number of reports
A sliding window, not a ranking. Every county.