What to Expect From a Well in Jackson County

How deep are wells around Jackson County?

How much water do wells make near Jackson County?

A 100-Foot Median, With Room for a Deeper Hole

Among the 1,180 Jackson County wells reporting depth, the median is 100 feet, and the middle half falls between 60 and 160 feet. That is a useful starting range for discussing a drilling bid, not a depth guarantee. The 90th-percentile depth is 258 feet, so a budget based only on the median can leave you short.

The permit data group 1,577 wells under unnamed or fractured-bedrock aquifers; only small numbers specifically name Alluvial or Coalmont. In fractured mountain bedrock, usable water depends on the fractures a borehole intersects. Compare nearby completion reports around your parcel, especially where terrain changes, rather than carrying a depth assumption across the county.

Reported Yields Usually Support Household Planning

The median reported pump yield is 10.0 gpm, with the middle half between 7.0 and 15.0 gpm. Those figures give a buyer a reasonable starting point for household supply planning, but only 260 wells report yield. They do not describe every permitted well in Jackson County.

Of the reported yields, 2% are under 1 gpm and 9% fall in the 1–5 gpm band. A low-producing well may need storage and careful demand management. Even a stronger recorded yield is not a current performance guarantee. Before closing, have the well's sustained production and recovery evaluated, and confirm that the permit authorizes your intended water use.

Water Levels Do Not Show a Steady Countywide Drop

Static water level is the depth to resting water, not the bottom of the well. Jackson County's median is 30 feet below ground, with the middle half between 13 and 60 feet. Only 83 wells report this measurement, so the county summary is a limited guide to conditions at a particular property.

Median measurements were 32 feet in the 2000s, 50 feet in the 2010s and 30 feet in the 2020s. That sequence does not show a steady decline. It also does not establish recovery at an individual well because the summaries may represent different wells. Ask for repeat measurements and pumping observations from the well you are buying.

Jackson County's Permit History and Drilling Names

The largest listed decade for permits was the 1990s, with 374, followed by 272 in the 2000s. Records show 142 in the 2010s and 96 in the 2020s, with the newest permit dated 2025. The latest decade is incomplete, and permit issuance does not establish when—or whether—a well was constructed.

Stolns & Son Drilling (Stolns, Lewis B.) appears on 213 records, and James Drilling (Keaton, Jordan K.) on 56. Another frequent entry, “Authorized (Pe, Pg),” appears on 95; verify the actual drilling contractor behind that label. Historical record counts are useful for finding local experience, but they do not establish present availability or licensing.

Budget for the Finished Well, Not Just Drilling

For fractured mountain bedrock such as granite or gneiss, the supplied Jackson County cost model uses $65–$100 per foot. At the 100-foot median depth, that puts the drilled hole at about $6,500–$10,000. A finished well with pump, tank, trenching and electrical is modeled at $12,500–$22,000.

Use that finished-well range as an initial planning allowance, not a parcel-specific quote. Ask the driller to spell out casing, grout, mobilization, testing and the treatment of additional footage. Rig access and the route from the well to the house also matter. A bid should make clear what happens financially if drilling must continue or the hole fails to produce usable water.

Check Water Quality and Site Constraints Before Closing

The environmental map identifies 28 PFAS sampling/contamination sites, 54 historic mine features and 3 EPA Superfund/cleanup sites within about 10 miles in the supplied search. These are screening flags, not evidence that a particular Jackson County well is contaminated. Check each site's location, status and relationship to the parcel, then select laboratory testing with qualified local guidance.

Also inspect the wellhead, casing condition and drainage, and review septic placement and records. A yield entry cannot rule out a future shortage, and the supplied records do not establish dry-hole odds. For a building lot, resolve well access, septic suitability and the house location together before committing to a layout.

Buying Near Walden: Start With the Parcel's Records

Start with the actual permit and completion report, then compare neighboring wells. Walden has its own local page, while Routt County and Grand County provide nearby regional context. Neither a county boundary nor a nearby address guarantees comparable underground conditions.

Domestic/household use accounts for 68% of Jackson County permit records and stock use for 23%, but those categories do not grant rights to a different parcel. Ask DWR to confirm the proposed household, livestock or outdoor uses. For an existing home, obtain a current production evaluation and water-quality results. For vacant land, get drilling and site-development input before treating the lot as ready to build.

Well permits by decade near Jackson County

What a new well costs in Jackson County

How this is built: the median permitted depth here times the per-foot range for this ground, plus the normal system costs. A lot at the 75th-percentile depth (160 ft) would run roughly $16,400–$28,000. See the full Colorado well cost guide.

Environmental sites mapped within about 10 miles

Counts come from EPA, USGS and state datasets layered on the Colorado Well Finder map. A count is not a verdict on any one well; it tells you what to test for.

Buying land near Jackson County? Know what it costs to build before you buy the dirt.

A listing photo can't tell you whether a lot is a dream or a money pit. Two parcels near Jackson County can carry the same asking price while one needs an $80,000 driveway and a $45,000 engineered septic the other doesn't. The well numbers on this page are the start of that answer. A Tri-Lakes Site Feasibility Report is the rest of it: a licensed general contractor, excavator and septic installer reads the parcel the way we would if we were about to build on it, and puts the real cost in writing before your money is committed.

Spend a little to know. Or gamble a lot to guess. Realtors sell the view and inspectors look at houses that already exist. We're the people who'd build it, so we catch what quietly turns a "great deal" into a budget disaster: bad access, buried rock, steep grade, soil that won't pass for a normal septic, water that's a fortune to reach. And if the lot is good, you've already got a builder ready to do the work, driveway to drywall.

• Instant Online Report, $99 — type the address and get a buildability read on the spot: parcel, terrain and slope, soil and septic outlook. Cheap enough to run on every lot you're shopping.
• Desktop Report, $500 — a contractor's from-the-desk feasibility read: Regulation 43 and county code, GIS parcel data, terrain, flood and drainage, soil and septic viability, setbacks and buildable envelope, nearby well depths from our 591,000-well database, the likely driveway route, and a preliminary site-development cost breakdown.
• On-Site Report, $2,000 — everything above, then boots and a drone on the actual ground: house pad and septic zone located, access and winter conditions checked, rock and soil observed in person, a 15 to 20 page written opinion you can hand a lender or seller. Credited toward your project if you build with us.

Under contract, comparing parcels, or a realtor with a rural listing whose buyers keep asking "what will it cost to build here?" This is the due-diligence step almost everyone skips, and the one that saves the most.

Common questions about wells in Jackson County

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Towns and areas in Jackson County

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