Kendall County has grown faster than almost anywhere else in Texas over the past decade, and the growth shows no signs of slowing. New subdivisions and custom home sites continue to spread across the cedar-covered hills between Boerne and the Bexar County line, and out into the ranching country toward Comfort and Sisterdale. What hasn't expanded to match that growth is the municipal water infrastructure — which means an increasing number of Kendall County residents are on private water wells, and more are being drilled every year.
Getting a well right in Kendall County requires understanding what's underground here, and that picture is more complicated than in many Texas counties.
Kendall County sits on the Balcones Fault Zone, the geologic boundary that separates the Edwards Plateau to the northwest from the lower-elevation terrain to the southeast. That fault zone is precisely why the county's groundwater picture varies so much depending on where your property sits.
In the southeastern portion of the county — generally below IH-10 and closer to San Antonio — some properties sit over the Edwards Aquifer. The Edwards is heavily regulated by the Edwards Aquifer Authority, which means any new well, including a residential well, requires an EAA permit on top of the standard groundwater district permit. The Edwards can produce excellent yields, but the permitting process adds complexity and time.
Most of the county above IH-10 — the hill country ranches, the growing communities west of Boerne, and the areas around Comfort and Bergheim — draws from the Trinity Aquifer. The Trinity here is the same fractured limestone formation that underlies much of the Hill Country: productive in the right fracture zones, frustratingly inconsistent elsewhere. Local knowledge matters enormously when siting a Trinity well.
In the Trinity zone, most residential wells complete between 300 and 600 feet. Properties sitting on hilltops above the Guadalupe River drainage or the Cibolo Creek watershed tend toward the deeper end of that range — the water-bearing fractures are simply further down from high-elevation sites. Wells closer to the creek bottoms and valley floors often find productive zones at shallower depths.
In the Edwards zone near the southern county line, depths can vary considerably depending on the structural geology of the specific fault block your property sits on. Some wells in this area find the Edwards formation at 200 to 350 feet; others need to go deeper. The EAA's database of permitted wells in the area provides useful historical depth data before you commit to anything.
Groundwater district note: Kendall County is served by the Cow Creek Groundwater Conservation District. Any new well requires a permit before drilling begins — your licensed driller should handle the application, but confirm this explicitly before signing a contract.
Expect $16,000 to $38,000 for a complete residential installation in the Trinity zone, covering drilling, steel casing, pump, pressure tank, and electrical hookup. Wells in the 500 to 600 foot range, which aren't uncommon on hilltop properties, will push toward the higher end. In the Edwards zone, costs are similar but the permitting adds time rather than significant cost.
Kendall County is close enough to the San Antonio metro that drillers working the area are in high demand. Labor and mobilization costs tend to run slightly higher than in more rural counties further west. If you're planning a new build and need a well, factor the drilling cost into your initial land development budget — not as an afterthought.
The pattern repeats constantly in Kendall County: someone buys several acres outside Boerne or Comfort, contracts to build a house, and then discovers that the well — which they assumed would be straightforward — is going to take three months and $30,000. Start the well process before construction begins. A driller's schedule won't bend to fit a builder's timeline.
The Boerne area has added thousands of residents in recent years, and that increased demand on the Trinity Aquifer has been measurable. If your well has been performing noticeably worse over the past few years — slower recovery, reduced pressure, pump cycling more frequently — have a driller assess it rather than waiting for a complete failure. A pump adjustment or lowering is far cheaper than a full replacement situation discovered at the worst possible time.
The ranching country in the western and northern parts of Kendall County — toward Comfort, Waring, and Sisterdale — has traditionally relied on deeper Trinity wells for both domestic and livestock use. Ranches with aging infrastructure, or those being subdivided and sold as smaller tracts, often need new wells drilled for each newly created property. Make sure any driller you hire has specific experience with this part of the county.
New subdivision wells: Several large-tract subdivisions in Kendall County have been platted with individual lot wells rather than a shared water system. If you're buying in one of these developments, verify the well status before closing and understand that each lot is responsible for its own water supply.
Texas Well Finder lists TDLR-licensed water well drillers serving Kendall County and the Boerne area. Every driller shown holds an active state license.
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