What a well water test costs at state labs: prices in 14 states

EPA's advice to private-well owners is short: "Test your private well annually for total coliform bacteria, nitrates, total dissolved solids, and pH levels," and "only use laboratories that are certified to do drinking water testing." What that costs depends on which lab you use. Commercial certified labs set their own prices, and the state certification lists do not print prices. But some state labs, and one state's university lab, print a homeowner price list. We lined up the prices recorded in our fact-checked state guidance, test by test.

The 14 states are Vermont, Maine, Wisconsin, Missouri, Georgia, Michigan, Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Montana, Indiana, South Carolina, Idaho. Our record holds 82 printed price items from these labs, 22 of them packages. The labs print more; the limits section lists the gaps we know about.

The labs, and the dates on their price lists

Not every lab here is a state health department lab. Four are state environmental labs (three belong to environmental agencies, Montana's to its health department), Wisconsin's is a state lab run by the University of Wisconsin, and Georgia's prices come from the University of Georgia's Agricultural and Environmental Services Laboratories, a university lab, not a state health lab. The dates also differ: some labs print an effective date, some print a form revision date, and 7 print no effective date.

Michigan's schedule is the newest. The lab calls it a preview of pricing effective October 1, 2026, and describes it as its first fee increase since 2007. Missouri's form, from 2022, is the oldest. A page update date is not a price effective date.

Coliform bacteria: the yearly test

12 of the 14 states print a stand-alone coliform price.

Three details matter. Missouri's $10 is printed as a handling fee, not as a test price. South Dakota's $20 covers total coliform only; E. coli is a separate test there. South Carolina runs E. coli only when coliform is found.

Two states with other prices have no stand-alone bacteria item in our record: Montana's bacteria-only prices are on a separate form we did not read, and the Indiana items in our record do not include a bacteria test. Bacteria samples also have to reach the lab quickly, so a cheap test at a distant lab is only useful if the sample arrives in time; our testing deserts study covers that problem county by county, and the sampling guide covers the timing.

Nitrate

8 labs price nitrate on its own. The range is $12 (Georgia) to $41 (Michigan), median $22.

Indiana prints its price per sample plus a shipping and handling charge per order. For one sample in one order that adds up to $16.50, the figure in the chart. The test names also differ: Michigan's and Vermont's prices cover nitrate and nitrite together, Indiana's is nitrate plus nitrite as nitrogen, and Georgia reports nitrate-N. Our nitrate page explains nitrate versus nitrate-N.

Arsenic and lead

Most of these labs price arsenic and lead the same. Arsenic runs $23 (Idaho, South Dakota) to $40 (Georgia), median $28 across 7 states. Lead runs $18.50 (South Dakota) to $40 (Georgia), median $30 across 8 states.

Michigan is the case where the printed price and the bill differ most. Its arsenic price is printed as $15 (plus a $13 per-sample preparation fee), so one arsenic or one lead sample costs $28, the figure in the charts. Ask how the fee is charged if you order several metals on one sample. Georgia's UGA lab prices any one element at $40, with a charge for each additional element on the same sample, so a second metal costs less than the first there. Montana's $24 price is for a more sensitive method than the one in its metals screen. Maine's lead price is for a first-draw sample; our lead page explains why the sample type matters. Indiana sells arsenic, lead and copper as one kit, so it is in the package table below rather than here.

Uranium, manganese, radon, VOCs and PFAS

Few of the prices in our record are for these tests, so we show each price as printed rather than a range.

Michigan and Oklahoma hold the only PFAS prices in our record. Wisconsin's state lab links to a separate PFAS page from its price list; that page is not part of our record. Georgia's radon price has a conditional extra, an overnight shipping label when applicable, so we leave Georgia out of the radon comparison rather than guess whether it applies. A VOC screen at one lab and a VOC method at another may not cover the same list of compounds; ask for the analyte list before comparing.

Fees on top of the test price

The test price is not always the bill. These are the extra charges printed beside the prices in our record. We add a fee to the comparisons only when the lab prints it as a fixed amount per sample or per order; fees that depend on how you order or pay, or that may already be in the price, are listed but left out.

Idaho prices gross alpha and beta by quote. Return shipping and courier costs are not in our record, so ask about them.

Packages: listed, never compared

All 22 packages below are copied as printed. We do not rank them or compute a median, because a "basic" package at one lab can contain different tests from a "basic" package at another. Where our record does not itemise the contents, the table says so. Compare a package against the single-test prices at the same lab, not against another state's package.

Two practical notes. South Carolina's page said metals and minerals samples were not accepted from June 1 to October 31, 2026, with a tentative restart on November 1, 2026; ask whether the service has resumed before sampling. Montana's form says its discounted metals and organics prices are temporarily unavailable. If you are buying a home, the loan packages (Georgia's W33B, Oklahoma's daycare/real estate list, Wisconsin's HUD/FHA-VA package) are worth asking about, but confirm the required tests with your lender; our FHA, VA and USDA testing guide covers that.

State labs and private certified labs

A state lab is one option, not the whole market. The certification lists behind our lab finder also include commercial and other certified labs. They set their own prices, and the state lists do not print them, so none is in this study. A private lab may cost more or less than the state lab for the same test; ask.

Also check whether you need to pay at all. Some states and counties run free or subsidised testing programs; see our free well water testing guide and your state page. For what else drives a testing bill, see how much well water testing costs.

Before you order from any lab, ask for the current price and every per-sample, shipping or payment fee, the list of analytes in the test, and, for bacteria, how soon the sample must arrive. The finder shows which tests each lab is certified for, and the which-tests checklist helps you decide what to order.

Method

The prices come only from the "prices" items in our fact-checked state guidance, the same records behind our state pages. Each item carries the lab, the price exactly as printed, the effective or page date as printed, and the official source. We did not estimate, convert or update any price.

• One row per test. An item our record groups as X, Y or Z (each) becomes one row per test at the same price (for example Idaho's arsenic, lead and uranium, each $23). Georgia's W42, any one metal or non-metal, counts as a single test for arsenic, lead, manganese and uranium.
• Singles versus packages. An item that bundles several tests under one price is a package. Single tests are grouped by test (bacteria, nitrate, arsenic, lead and so on). Packages are listed and never compared.
• Price as printed versus one-sample total. We keep the price exactly as printed. For the ranges, medians and charts we use the cost of one sample in one order: the printed price plus any fee the lab prints as a fixed amount per sample or per order (Michigan's metals preparation fee, Indiana's shipping and handling). Conditional fees, fees with no printed amount, charges for additional elements, and fees that may already be in the price (Maine's) are left out of the comparisons.
• One price per state per test. Where a state prints more than one single item for a test, the first one is used. In South Dakota that is total coliform ($20), not the separate E. coli test ($22), and the table says so.
• Medians. The median is the middle value of the one-sample totals across the states that price that test (the average of the two middle values when the count is even).

Sources, one row per lab (each chart bar comes from its state's row):

Limits

• Prices change. Effective dates range from a 2022 form (Missouri) and a 2024 form (Idaho) to fiscal year 2027 (Oklahoma). 7 states print no effective date: Vermont, Maine, Florida, Louisiana, South Dakota, Indiana, South Carolina. Check the lab's current fee list.
• Not every lab is a state health lab. Georgia's prices are from the University of Georgia's lab, a university lab, not a state health lab. Wisconsin's state lab is run by the University of Wisconsin. Michigan's, Oklahoma's and South Carolina's labs belong to environmental agencies; Montana's environmental lab belongs to its health department.
• Fees. The comparisons include only fees printed as a fixed amount per sample or per order (Michigan's preparation fee, Indiana's shipping and handling). Conditional fees (Georgia's radon shipping label, Louisiana's online fee, Oklahoma's card fees), fees with no printed amount (Indiana's fluoride shipping) and Maine's mandatory per-test fee, which the shop does not say is or is not included in its listed prices, are left out, so your bill can be higher.
• Same name, different test. South Dakota's coliform price is total coliform only; E. coli is a separate $22 test. Missouri's bacteria price is printed as a handling fee. Nitrate is printed as nitrate, nitrate-N, or nitrate plus nitrite, depending on the lab. Montana's lead and arsenic price is for a more sensitive method than its screen.
• Coverage. The 14 states are those where a price is printed in the official pages in our fact-checked guidance. Our record is a subset of what the labs print. Vermont's price list also prints radon, uranium and VOC tests, Oklahoma's schedule prints a VOC test, Maine's web shop sells more tests than our record holds, Wisconsin's PFAS prices are on a separate page, and we did not read Montana's bacteria-only form or Idaho's online fee list (the form says fees are also posted at StateLab.idaho.gov). "No price in our record" does not mean a lab has none, and other states' labs may publish fees we have not added.
• Private labs are not included. This study says nothing about what commercial certified labs charge.

Getting the data

Behind this page are two tables: every printed price item (lab, lab type, test, price as printed, fee terms, one-sample total, single or package, date as printed and source URL), and the single tests grouped by test. They hold lab names and prices only, no contact details. We do not publish them as downloads. Journalists and researchers can request the data here: say who you are, where the work will appear and which data you need, and we will reply.

Questions people ask