Water wells in younger formations above the Woodbine, Travis County, Texas
Home water wells completed in younger formations above the Woodbine in Travis County, Texas vary a lot in depth: the middle half are 51 to 120 feet deep (median 65 ft, 62 wells reported since 2001), so look at the wells closest to the tract. It is a minor layer here: just 1% of the 916 wells the state's model covers; the main one is the Lower Trinity (46%). They run about 380 feet shallower than the county's median well (445 ft). Estimated cost of a complete well at the median depth: $4,000 to $10,500.
Updated every day from Texas Water Development Board driller reports. Last update: November 11, 2026, using the state file of November 10, 2026.
Which layer Travis County wells draw from
- Lower Trinity 46% · 419 wells
- Lower Trinity (Twin Mountains and Travis Peak) 36% · 330 wells
- Middle Trinity 10% · 90 wells
- Near or below the base of the Trinity 4% · 33 wells
- Upper Trinity (Paluxy and Glen Rose) 2% · 22 wells
- Washita and Fredericksburg 1% · 12 wells
- Above the Woodbine 1% · 10 wells
Under Austin, Travis County
County home wells covered by the Northern Trinity and Woodbine model (in the last 10 years).
Digging in…
Home wells in Travis County
Each dot is a home well from a state driller report, colored by depth. Tap one for its details and official report. Tap an empty spot to see what is under that point.
Well depth (ft)
- <100
- 100
- 200
- 300
- 400
- 600
- 800+
Dark line: Travis County
Green: aquifer mapped by the state
Key figures
- Typical depth (middle half)
- 51 to 120 feet
- Median depth
- 65 feet
- Deepest 10% are past
- 425 feet
- Water level (median)
- 34 feet
- 40 wells
- Yield (median)
- 30 gpm
- 46 wells, gallons per minute
- Wells used
- 62
- Since 2001
- Share of the county's wells
- 1%
- All years on file
- 62
- median 65 ft, since 2001
- Confidence
- Standard (30 or more wells)
When the wells were finished, the water stood a median 34 feet below the surface (40 wells).
Which layer Travis County wells draw from
- Lower Trinity 46% · 419 wells
- Lower Trinity (Twin Mountains and Travis Peak) 36% · 330 wells
- Middle Trinity 10% · 90 wells
- Near or below the base of the Trinity 4% · 33 wells
- Upper Trinity (Paluxy and Glen Rose) 2% · 22 wells
- Washita and Fredericksburg 1% · 12 wells
- Above the Woodbine 1% · 10 wells
What this layer is
The state's Northern Trinity and Woodbine model treats everything above the Woodbine as a single layer: the Eagle Ford, Austin, Taylor and Navarro groups (mostly shale, chalk and marl) plus younger sands and river deposits where they exist. It is a catch-all, not one rock. In counties east and south of the Trinity outcrop, a home well in this layer is usually drawing from a younger local sand that this model does not separate.
Depth over time
Too few wells per period in this layer in Travis County to compare depth over time. Since 2001, 62 home wells have been reported, with a median of 65 feet.
| Period | Median depth (ft) | Wells |
|---|---|---|
| 2001–2005 | under 10 wells | 6 |
| 2006–2010 | 61 | 32 |
| 2011–2015 | under 10 wells | 8 |
| 2016–2020 | under 10 wells | 8 |
| 2021–2025 | under 10 wells | 7 |
| 2026 | under 10 wells | 1 |
Places in Travis County with wells in this layer
- Elgin 100% of its wells
- Garfield 100% of its wells
- Webberville 100% of its wells
- Hornsby Bend 100% of its wells
- Pflugerville 20% of its wells
- Austin 2% of its wells
Common questions
How deep is a well in younger formations above the Woodbine in Travis County?
Home water wells completed in younger formations above the Woodbine in Travis County, Texas vary a lot in depth: the middle half are 51 to 120 feet deep (median 65 ft, 62 wells reported since 2001), so look at the wells closest to the tract.
How many Travis County wells draw from this layer?
It is a minor layer here: just 1% of the 916 wells the state's model covers; the main one is the Lower Trinity (46%). Only 19% of these wells have the water-bearing interval on their report (reports before about 2012 rarely do). For the others we use the bottom of the hole, which tends to read one layer deeper than where the water actually comes from.
How deep does the water stand?
When the wells were finished, the water stood a median 34 feet below the surface (40 wells).
What a well costs here
At the median depth for this layer in Travis County (65 feet), a complete home well would cost roughly $4,000 to $10,500: $25 to $60 per foot for drilling, casing and seal, plus $2,500 to $6,500 for the pump, pressure tank, controls and hookup at the well. Across the whole middle half of depths (51 to 120 feet) the range runs from $4,000 to $13,500. This is TerraFunded's estimate from published Texas prices, not a quote, and it leaves out trenching and the line to the house. Get prices from at least two licensed drillers.
How these numbers are made
We count new and replacement domestic (home) wells with a valid depth on their report. We use the last 10 years when there are at least 30 wells; otherwise all since 2001. The median is the middle well and the middle half runs from the 25th to the 75th percentile.
To tell which layer a well draws from, we take the ground elevation at its location, subtract the depth of the interval where water enters (or the bottom of the hole when the report does not give one) and see which layer of the state's model that point falls in.
Only 19% of these wells have the water-bearing interval on their report (reports before about 2012 rarely do). For the others we use the bottom of the hole, which tends to read one layer deeper than where the water actually comes from.
How well it works: In 7,977 wells in the area of the state's Northern Trinity and Woodbine model (North and Central Texas) where the State of Texas recorded the aquifer, our estimate of the formation the well draws from names the same layer of the state's model in about 74% of them, and that layer or the one next to it in at least 95%; among the 3,130 of those wells that the state places in a Trinity layer (Paluxy to Hosston) it is about 56%.
- The layers come from the Texas Water Development Board's Northern Trinity and Woodbine model, with quarter mile cells, summarized here to about 1.3 miles. It is a regional model, not a survey of any lot: between one model point and the next, the real depth of each layer can differ.
- In this model every layer is at least 30 feet thick, even where the real rock is thinner or missing. Thin layers and the edges of the model are approximate.
- Inside the Trinity this atlas does not name single model layers: it groups the Paluxy and Glen Rose (upper Trinity) and groups the Hensell, Pearsall and Hosston (lower Trinity, Twin Mountains and Travis Peak), because the check against the state's codes shows the method cannot separate them reliably.
- "Near or below the base of the Trinity" means the well reaches the bottom of the model or passes it, often by tens of feet. Older rock that the model does not include may lie there.
- We never use the model's water levels. The water level on this page is the one each driller measured when the well was finished.
These are depths of real wells drilled nearby, not a promise about any property. Groundwater can change over short distances and with drought. A licensed water well driller can tell you what to expect on a specific tract.
Read the full methodology · Download the data (CSV, CC BY 4.0)
How to cite
TerraFunded (2026). Texas Well Atlas: Underground. From Texas Water Development Board driller reports and groundwater availability models (data as of November 10, 2026). https://terrafunded.com/wells/travis-county/younger-formations. License CC BY 4.0. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.24126380.
Sources
- Submitted Driller's Reports database, Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) (file of November 10, 2026)
- Hydrogeology and Documentation of the Northern Trinity and Woodbine Aquifer System Groundwater Availability Model (NTGAM). Ellis, J., Prieto-Estrada, A., Osborne, A., Deeds, N., White, J., and Keester, M. (INTERA Incorporated), for the North Texas Groundwater Conservation District and Groundwater Management Area 8, 2025, GAM v3.01. TWDB groundwater availability model.
- Ground elevation: Terrain Tiles (Mapzen), Registry of Open Data on AWS
- TWDB well report viewer (each well's official report)
