Rangely, Colorado Well Depth, Yield, and Cost Guide

How deep are wells around Rangely?

How much water do wells make near Rangely?

Rangely well depths are usually shallow, with exceptions

The median reported well depth near Rangely is 20 feet. The middle half of reported wells falls between 17 and 33 feet, and the 90th percentile is 47 feet. That gives a driller a reasonable starting point for a preliminary bid, especially in the local mixed sedimentary and alluvial ground.

Depth records still have a wide outlier range. Ninety-one percent of the reported wells are under 100 feet, while 3% are between 300 and 600 feet and 6% are deeper than 600 feet. No wells appear in the 100-to-300-foot range in this dataset. The deepest record is 4,760 feet, so a shallow median is not a guarantee for an individual lot.

What Rangely wells produce

The reported yield data looks strong, but it is based on only 2 wells with a pump yield in the records. Both reported yields fall in the 15-plus-gallons-per-minute category, producing a median of 15.0 gallons per minute. No recorded wells are listed under 1 gallon per minute, between 1 and 5, or between 5 and 15 gallons per minute.

That result should not be treated as a guarantee for a new domestic well. Most permits identify an unnamed or fractured-bedrock aquifer, with 112 wells in that category and 6 in an alluvial aquifer. Fractured ground can vary sharply over short distances. Ask for a pump test, well construction report, and actual recovery information before relying on the local yield figure.

The limited water-level record near Rangely

Only 6 wells report a static water level, so the local water-table picture is limited. Among those records, the median depth to water is 4 feet, and the middle half ranges from 3 to 4 feet. That suggests shallow water in the wells that were measured, but it does not establish the water level beneath every parcel.

The permit-by-decade series shows activity rather than a water-table trend: 7 permits in the 1970s, 1 in the 1980s, 11 in the 1990s, 18 in the 2000s, 40 in the 2010s, and 15 in the 2020s. Because static levels are sparse and not presented as a consistent time series, these facts do not show that the water table is dropping or rising.

Who has drilled around Rangely, and when

Permit activity is spread across several decades, with the largest recorded group in the 2010s. The newest permit year in this area is 2025. Monitoring is the dominant listed use at 58% of permits, while domestic or household wells account for 15%, stock for 8%, and irrigation for 2%. That mix matters when comparing a monitoring well with a proposed household well.

The most active driller name in the records is Authorized (Pe, Pg), associated with 37 wells. Pennell Drilling, listed with Pennell Jr., Clifford A., appears on 4 records, and Owner appears on 3. Confirm the driller, permit status, and construction report with Colorado DWR before using an old record as a model for your property.

Rangely well drilling cost at local depths

For the local mixed sedimentary and alluvial ground, the drilling rate model is $50 to $75 per foot. At the 20-foot median depth, the drilled hole alone models to about $1,000 to $1,500. That is only the borehole, not the complete water system.

A finished well with pump, pressure tank, trenching, and electrical work is modeled at about $7,000 to $13,500 at the median depth. A deeper-than-typical hole, difficult access, casing and grout requirements, or additional treatment can move the final price higher. Get a written bid that separates drilling, casing, grout, pump equipment, trenching, electrical work, testing, and permit-related items.

Risks to check before buying a Rangely lot

The area has 41 mapped PFAS sampling or contamination sites within about 10 miles, 4 historic mine features, and 1 EPA Superfund or cleanup site. A nearby mapped site does not prove that a particular well is contaminated, but it is a reason to review available sampling, well location, groundwater flow information, and the history of the parcel.

Low yield and dry holes remain possible even where recorded yields look good, because only 2 permits report pump yield and much of the aquifer labeling is unnamed or fractured bedrock. Check septic setbacks, soil suitability, access for a drill rig, casing and grout requirements, and the legal water use allowed by the permit. Household-use wells are commonly exempt wells, but Colorado DWR permit conditions still control the use.

A practical plan for building near Rangely

Before closing, pull the Colorado DWR records for the parcel and compare nearby wells by depth, aquifer description, construction, yield, and static water level. The records near Rangely include shallow wells, but the 4,760-foot outlier shows why a single median should not be used as a promise. Have a driller inspect access and ground conditions before you accept a fixed construction budget.

For a new home, coordinate the well, septic system, driveway, trenching, and electrical layout early. Confirm whether the proposed use is domestic, stock, irrigation, or another permitted use. If the property is near Dinosaur, Meeker, Maybell, Parachute, Battlement Mesa, or Loma, do not substitute those areas for a parcel-specific review; local geology and permit conditions can change quickly.

Well permits by decade near Rangely

What a new well costs in Rangely, CO

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 (33 ft) would run roughly $7,650–$14,475. 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 Rangely? 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 Rangely 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 Rangely

Keep researching

More in Rio Blanco County

All wells in Rio Blanco County — county-wide depth, yield and cost figures.

Nearby areas