How Deep Are Wells in Greene, Christian and Webster Counties?
Published October 2026. All depths are based on DNR well records through 2016.
Before we drill, the best guide to depth is the wells already drilled nearby. Here we pull that history from Missouri DNR's own records for the three counties around Springfield.
Where These Numbers Come From
Under Missouri's Water Well Drillers Law, each new well is reported to DNR, and DNR publishes those records as a statewide well dataset on data.mo.gov. Wells drilled before July 1987 are not in it, and the published set runs through 2016. The figures here count only household water wells and use the median, the middle value, so a few very deep or very shallow wells do not skew them.
Median Well Depth by County
| County | Wells counted | Median depth | Middle half |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greene | 5,270 | About 470 ft | About 405 to 550 ft |
| Christian | 4,089 | About 520 ft | About 450 to 605 ft |
| Webster | 4,620 | About 345 ft | About 275 to 425 ft |
The middle half is the range that covers half of the wells, with a quarter shallower and a quarter deeper. Christian County runs deepest of the three, and Webster County shallowest.
Median Well Depth Near Each Town
Town figures count household wells within 5 miles of each town center, so they describe the countryside around each place rather than homes inside city limits.
| Town | Wells | Median depth | Middle half |
|---|---|---|---|
| Springfield | 211 | About 510 ft | About 435 to 585 ft |
| Nixa | 1,052 | About 530 ft | About 465 to 610 ft |
| Ozark | 977 | About 500 ft | About 430 to 550 ft |
| Republic | 651 | About 535 ft | About 490 to 600 ft |
| Willard | 590 | About 425 ft | About 385 to 500 ft |
| Strafford | 880 | About 505 ft | About 425 to 570 ft |
| Rogersville | 869 | About 500 ft | About 425 to 565 ft |
| Marshfield | 1,024 | About 305 ft | About 240 to 365 ft |
| Fair Grove | 792 | About 365 ft | About 300 to 450 ft |
The pattern is clear in the records: wells to the south and west, around Nixa and Republic, run deepest, while wells to the north and east, around Fair Grove and Marshfield, run shallowest. Springfield's figure comes from a smaller set of wells because most of the city is on City Utilities water.
Wells Have Been Getting Deeper
Splitting the same records by the decade each well was finished shows a steady trend: the median household well got deeper in all three counties between the late 1980s and 2016.
| County | 1987 to 1996 | 1997 to 2006 | 2007 to 2016 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greene | About 440 ft | About 490 ft | About 505 ft |
| Christian | About 490 ft | About 535 ft | About 550 ft |
| Webster | About 325 ft | About 350 ft | About 365 ft |
The records do not say why. Newer homes may sit on land where water is deeper, and more wells may have been drilled on into the deep aquifer instead of stopping higher up. Either way, a well drilled today is more likely to land near the recent figures than near the long-run median, so we plan from the newest nearby records first.
What Sits Under the Area
USGS describes three layers under the Greene County area: the shallow Springfield Plateau aquifer, a confining unit of shale and limestone, and the deep Ozark aquifer of dolomite and sandstone below it. Most karst features, the sinkholes and caves, sit in the shallow layer, which Missouri DNR rates at only about 15 to 30 gallons per minute. USGS also reports a cone of depression in the deep aquifer under Springfield from long-term pumping.
Casing, Water Level and Yield
| County | Median casing | Median static level | Median yield |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greene | About 145 ft | About 150 ft | About 45 gpm |
| Christian | About 105 ft | About 180 ft | About 40 gpm |
| Webster | About 105 ft | About 120 ft | About 40 gpm |
Casing is the steel pipe set from the surface down to solid rock. Static water level is how far below ground the water sits when the pump is off, which decides how deep the pump hangs. Yield is the gallons per minute measured when the well was finished.
Reading a Neighbor's Well Record
Each record in the DNR set lists the total depth, the length of casing, the static water level, the yield measured when the well was finished, and the layers of rock drilled through, with their depths. Total depth tells you how far down your own well may need to go. The rock log shows where the casing had to stop and where the water came in.
Why the Middle Half Matters
A median is one number, and plenty of wells land well above or below it. The middle half gives a more honest planning range: near Nixa, for instance, half the wells finish between about 465 and 610 feet. That is why we price footage past the expected depth on its own line.
What These Figures Cannot Tell You
They leave out wells drilled before July 1987 and anything after 2016. They count only household water wells, not city, irrigation or monitoring wells, which is why town wells such as Strafford's, at 1,089 to 1,400 feet, and Marshfield's, at 1,300 feet or more, do not appear. A 5-mile circle around a town can also cross a county line. Your well can land anywhere in the range or outside it.
Depth, Casing and Karst
Depth is only part of a sound well. Where the shallow layer is full of sinkholes and losing streams, the casing and the seal around it keep surface water out of the open hole below. Greene County's median casing of about 145 feet is noticeably longer than the roughly 105 feet in Christian and Webster, a reminder that ground conditions, not just depth, shape the job. In Greene County and parts of Christian County, DNR's Drilling Area 9 rules also require casing to reach at least 10 feet below the Ozark Confining Unit, the low-permeability layer between the shallow and deep aquifers, so a new well there can need far more casing than those older medians.
How to Look Up Wells Near Your Property
DNR offers an online well search built on the same records, and the statewide dataset can be filtered by county. Look for household wells near your road and note their depth, casing and yield. Records from wells on your road, drilled into the same rock, say more about your likely depth than any county or town average, and we read them before we quote your well.
What Depth Means for Cost
WellDrillingCosts.com publishes an estimate for complete wells 200 to 500 feet deep, so where your area falls on these tables tells you whether that estimate is likely to cover your well. The 2026 cost guide and the pricing page set the numbers side by side.