How much does well water testing cost? Official prices, test by test

The short answer: on the official price lists we opened on November 1, 2026, one bacteria test costs $14 to $60, a basic safety screen of bacteria plus nitrate costs $42 in Maine, a broad multi-test panel runs from $70 at a Virginia extension clinic to $450, and a PFAS test at Wisconsin's state lab costs $380, or $680 if its field blank gets analyzed. New Jersey's health department puts the average home-sale panel at $1,250. Some owners pay nothing at all: Iowa offers free basic testing through county health departments, and Wisconsin and part of New York test eligible wells for PFAS for free.

Every price below comes from a list published by a state public-health lab, a state agency, a university lab or a county health department, with the page's date (or "accessed November 1, 2026" where none is shown). We don't quote commercial labs or kit sellers, and we don't repeat the undated national ranges most cost guides give. Use these numbers to judge a quote, not as a promise: one list says its "Prices subject to change without notice."

What actually sets the price

Six things move the bill.

1. How many things the lab measures, and how it groups them

More analytes cost more, but the grouping matters as much as the count. The Vermont Department of Health Laboratory's Kit C, "Inorganic Chemicals (Homeowners)," costs $100 and, according to the lab's test kit descriptions (version 14.0), covers iron, sodium, total hardness, arsenic, copper, lead (flush and first draw), manganese, uranium, chloride, fluoride, nitrate and nitrite. The lab's price list puts "Individual Inorganic Tests" at "$10-25." Twelve analytes for $100 beats buying them singly.

Lab chemistry can also hide a multiplier. Monroe County, New York, charges $100 for nitrate because, as its 2026 form explains, "Determining Nitrate (NO3) requires testing Nitrate/Nitrite Combined (NOX) and Nitrite (NO2)," and it bills both. Penn State's lab lists nitrate-nitrogen at $15. The gap is explained in a footnote.

2. Package or single tests

A package is not automatically a discount. We added up the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene's (WSLH) single-test prices for everything in its $450 Homeowner Package: bacteria $35, nitrate $35, nitrite $38, fluoride $33, metals screen $97 (which already includes hardness), VOC screen $141 and atrazine screen $71. The total is $450, the package price. Its $146 HUD/FHA-VA Loan Package equals bacteria, lead, nitrate and nitrite bought separately. At this lab a package saves paperwork, not money.

Penn State's Agricultural Analytical Services Laboratory is different. Its Standard package (total coliform, E. coli, pH, total dissolved solids) is $60; the same tests bought singly are $40 + $15 + $15 = $70. Its Agriculture/Septic package adds nitrate-nitrogen for $70, against $85 à la carte. The bigger saving is skipping tests you don't need: Penn State Extension calls testing "for many things" both "very expensive and unnecessary" and says to focus on a few standard parameters plus tests tied to nearby land use (Testing Your Drinking Water, updated June 2, 2025). Our which-tests checklist does that sorting for you.

3. The method

PFAS is where method changes the price. WSLH's PFAS price list (effective November 1, 2025) offers EPA Method 537.1, which measures 18 compounds and is billed at $380 per sample, and EPA Method 1633A, which measures 40 compounds for $450. The lab lists 1633A for aqueous samples including "non-compliance drinking water." A program may accept only certain methods: New York's PFAS rebate pilot tests wells with EPA Method 537.1 version 2 and wants post-treatment tests by a state-accredited lab for EPA Method 533 or 537.1 version 2. If a rebate or a buyer depends on the result, confirm the method first.

4. Field blanks

A field reagent blank (FRB) is a bottle of PFAS-free water that, in WSLH's words, "travels from the lab to the sampling site, is poured into an empty bottle, and travels back to the lab with the sample." It shows whether PFAS got in during sampling or transit. WSLH analyzes the $300 blank only if PFAS is detected in your sample, bills it only if analyzed, and says "for homeowners not testing for compliance purposes, the FRB is optional." So: $380 if nothing is found, $680 if PFAS turns up and the blank is run. That $300 is what tells a real detection from a contaminated bottle.

5. Speed

WSLH lists a usual testing time for each test and, for some tests (not bacteria, VOCs, atrazine, fluoride, radon or the Homeowner Package), a RUSH option at double the price. Arsenic is $38 in about 10 business days or $76 in 2. Nitrate is $35 in 3 days or $70 in 1. The HUD/FHA-VA Loan Package is $146 in 7 days or $292 in 2. The VOC screen and the Homeowner Package both take about 21 business days. If a closing date is coming, ordering two weeks earlier is cheaper than any rush fee.

6. Who takes the sample, and how it travels

Some programs won't accept a sample you collected yourself. Monroe County's Department of Public Health charges a $35 water sample fee per trip because its staff collect and transport every sample: "we cannot accept privately collected samples for testing." New Jersey's sale-time testing goes through laboratories certified for sample collection under its Private Well Testing Act. Where legal action could follow, such as documenting water before gas drilling, Penn State Extension says a disinterested third party should collect, which "adds to the cost of water testing." A New York PFAS fact sheet notes "some laboratories may collect the sample for you for a fee."

Shipping is the hidden line. WSLH ships kits free, but "you will have to pay for return shipment to our lab." Penn State's lab wants the kit back by overnight mail, with bacteria samples received within 30 hours. Maine's lab must receive samples within 30 hours and asks you not to collect or mail on a Friday, Saturday or the day before a holiday. Miss the window and, as WSLH warns, "another sample will need to be taken and shipped," so you pay twice. The sampling section of our how-to guide covers each test's rules.

Price tables by test type

"VT lab" is the Vermont Department of Health Laboratory (forms and prices page, last updated October 30, 2026). "ME lab" is Maine's Health and Environmental Testing Laboratory (state web shop, no date shown). WSLH is the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (prices effective July 1, 2026). Penn State is the university's Agricultural Analytical Services Laboratory (its submission form is marked rev. 0826). County rows come from Anoka County, Minnesota (2026 page) and Monroe County, New York (2026 sampling request form).

Maine's shop also notes "a mandatory $2 fee for a water test ordered for residential private drinking water wells" (a 2020 rule) without saying whether listed prices include it.

Bacteria and nitrate

Arsenic, lead and metals

Single-metal tests on these lists run $15 to $40; the next step up is a metals screen or inorganic kit at about $100. Here is how one lab's whole list climbs:

VOCs, radon and radioactivity

WSLH flags its own radon line: radon in water tests "are generally not necessary unless air radon levels are high." EPA's trigger on its Protect Your Home's Water page (updated February 26, 2026) is similar: radon in indoor air or a radon-rich region. See the radon explainer first.

PFAS

The New York fact sheet, Reducing PFAS in Private Wells, explains the price: PFAS tests "are performed by a small number of certified laboratories that have specialized equipment and quality control procedures." Whether you need one at all is covered in the PFAS explainer; New Jersey's health department lists "known or suspected well water contamination in your area" among its general reasons to test.

Packages and clinics

Virginia's $70 clinic price is on the Montgomery County extension page (February 3, 2026) and the King George County registration page (October 2026 clinic). Clinics run on set dates, so you sample on their schedule.

Vermont's own list makes a cleaner picture of the range at a single lab, from a $14 bacteria kit to a $630 organic-chemicals group:

Free and lower-cost testing

Start with your county. EPA's list of where to get a well tested includes "your local health department, which may provide private well testing for free," and CDC's guidelines for testing well water say local or state health or environmental departments "often test for nitrates, total coliforms, fecal coliforms, volatile organic compounds, and pH." Neither promises free testing everywhere. The programs we could confirm, in each agency's wording:

Sources: Iowa DNR, Private Well Testing; Washington State Department of Health; Wisconsin DNR; New York State Department of Health; Maine CDC.

County labs that aren't free can still be cheap: Anoka County, Minnesota, charges $17 for coliform or nitrate and ran its Well Water Wise Week, with extra drop-off days, May 4 to 8, 2026. And if a result is bad, New Jersey's health department points to a no-interest loan of up to $10,000 for treatment where water exceeds primary drinking water standards.

What a home-sale test costs

Sale-time costs depend more on who demands the test than on the lab:

• New Jersey is the expensive end: the panel is required and long. The Private Well Testing Act requires testing of raw well water whenever a property is sold, and every five years if it is leased. The NJ health department fact sheet (updated January 2023) lists total coliform and fecal or E. coli bacteria, VOCs ("includes 29 different chemicals"), nitrate, lead, arsenic, synthetic organic chemicals, PFAS (PFNA, PFOA, PFOS), iron, manganese and pH, plus mercury in 9 counties and gross alpha and uranium in 12, and footnotes: "Average cost of PWTA is $1250." Samples go through labs certified for PWTA sample collection.
• FHA and VA loans. WSLH's price list says HUD "requires the tests listed on private well water prior to accepting a house for FHA mortgage insurance" and that the Veterans Administration has the same requirements. Its HUD/FHA-VA Loan Package (total coliform, E. coli, lead, nitrate, nitrite) is $146 in about 7 business days, or $292 rush in 2. WSLH says to see your mortgage company for details.
• Maine's state lab sells a Residential Home Sales test for $127, "recommended for residential home sales." It covers bacteria, nitrate, nitrite, arsenic, uranium, lead, sodium, manganese, iron and more.
• Vermont does not require a test at sale. Its new-well page (updated March 4, 2026) says the seller must give buyers the state's home buyer's guide to well testing, and the Health Department "suggests testing your water before putting your home up for sale." That page names no package; the state lab's standard bundle is the $159 Homeowner's Testing Package.
• Washington: in most counties, the county health or planning department or the lender "may require the seller to provide water-sampling results." Call the county for the required list.

Budgeting: yearly, every few years, and only when needed

A sensible budget has a small yearly test, a bigger panel every few years, and situational tests that run only when a trigger applies. Official schedules next to official prices:

Wisconsin's schedule is from the DNR's Test your private well water annually page, which adds yearly arsenic tests in Outagamie, Winnebago and Brown counties or after an earlier arsenic detection. Compare, but don't shop across state lines unless your sample can meet that lab's hold times.

Worked example: five years of testing on Vermont's list (illustrative)

Take a Vermont household that follows the state's schedule (rows A and B) and lives two lots away from a gas station (row C). On the Vermont lab's prices:

Without the VOC test the five years cost $215, or $43 a year. Divided over 60 months that is about $3.58; Vermont's testing page says its recommended schedule "costs about $3.60 per month over five years, including annual bacteria testing." Drop-off trips or postage are extra. The baseline is cheap; the money goes to whatever your situation adds, and a household with no nearby fuel source and low indoor radon has no reason to buy rows C and D.

Kits, strips and certified labs

Everything priced above is lab analysis. Store-bought strips are a different product; our how-to guide covers the evidence on them. One cost point matters: certification is earned test by test, so a cheap lab is only cheap if it is certified for your exact test and accepts homeowner samples. The lab finder lists certified labs by test from official state lists; the Vermont, Maine and Wisconsin pages show which labs on those lists take private samples.

Five questions that change the bill

1. Does my county or state test for free? Call the county health department first. Minnesota's health department recommends "contacting a few laboratories to compare costs" (MDH well testing).
2. Is the package cheaper than the singles I need? Sometimes it is: Penn State's packages save $10 on its Standard set and $50 on its Mining package. At WSLH it is the same money.
3. What does getting the sample there cost? Return postage, overnight mail or a trip fee, and which weekdays the lab takes bacteria samples.
4. For PFAS: which method, and is a field blank billed? Make sure the method is the one any rebate or buyer needs.
5. For a sale: who requires what, by when? The required list and the closing date decide standard or rush prices.

Not sure which tests apply? The which-tests checklist builds a list from EPA and CDC triggers, and when the report arrives, the results checker puts each number next to EPA's limits.

Prices are as published on the pages cited, read November 1, 2026, and change without notice; confirm with the lab before ordering. This guide is general information, not medical advice. Federal drinking water limits apply to public water systems, not private wells.

Questions people ask