Water wells in Shelby County, Texas
1,850 well reports on file. The median well here was taken to 300 ft and struck water at 85 ft — against 180 ft and 80 ft across Texas.
What you will drill through in Shelby County
| Depth, ft | What was logged there |
|---|---|
| 0–25 ft | Clay 546, Shale 352, Sand 255, Red Clay 117, No Recovery 54, Grey Clay 54 |
| 25–50 ft | Shale 115, Clay 85, Sand 74, Coal 33, Rock 33, Sandy Shale 20 |
| 50–100 ft | Sand 189, Clay 156, Shale 172, Rock 65, Coal 63, Shale/Sand 33 |
| 100–200 ft | Sand 394, Clay 220, Shale 286, Rock 104, Coal 87, Shale/Sand 67 |
| 200–300 ft | Sand 437, Clay 174, Shale 211, Rock 75, Coal 54, Sandy Shale 44 |
| 300–500 ft | Sand 371, Clay 115, Shale 158, Rock 77, Shale/Sand 33, Coal 26 |
| 500–1000 ft | Sand 43, Shale 20, Rock 8, Clay 12, Sandy Shale 6, Sand, 5 |
| 1000–5000 ft | Sand 2, Gray Clay & Silt 1, Gray Sand & Silt 1, Gray Sand 1, Gray Clay 1, Sand & Shale 1 |
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 Shelby County
What the wells are for
| Purpose | Wells | Share | Median depth, ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rig Supply | 670 | 36.2% | 360 |
| Domestic | 543 | 29.4% | 255 |
| Monitor | 178 | 9.6% | 20 |
| Stock | 151 | 8.2% | 347 |
| Industrial | 126 | 6.8% | 380 |
| Environmental Soil Boring | 120 | 6.5% | 15 |
| Irrigation | 34 | 1.8% | 250 |
| Public Supply | 14 | 0.8% | 585 |
| Decade | Reports | Median depth, ft | Water at, ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 793 | 316 | 80 |
| 2010s | 715 | 320 | 90 |
| 2020s | 342 | 240 | 90 |
The deepest reports on file
| Report | Year | Depth, ft | Water at, ft | Yield, gpm | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 226276 | 2010 | 2,000 | 80 | 70 | Rig Supply |
| 221019 | 2010 | 1,480 | 90 | 65 | Rig Supply |
| 166410 | 2004 | 1,410 | 176 | 200 | Public Supply |
| 478372 | 2018 | 1,346 | 268 | 300 | Public Supply |
| 338078 | 2006 | 978 | 110 | 85 | Test Well |
| 334964 | 2006 | 978 | 110 | 33 | Public Supply |
| 334963 | 2006 | 978 | 110 | 33 | Public Supply |
| 130367 | 2007 | 720 | 147 | 150 | Industrial |
| 198105 | 2009 | 700 | 135 | 65 | Rig Supply |
| 152158 | 2005 | 700 | 92 | 75 | Rig Supply |
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 Shelby 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.