How much does it cost to drill a water well in Victoria, TX?
Published November 3, 2026 · 7 minute read
A complete residential well costs $6,500 to $12,000 around Victoria County, drilled, cased, with the pump and pressure tank set and the district paperwork filed. Drilling and casing alone run $30 to $55 per foot. Depth decides where your parcel lands in that range, and depth is a public record you can check before the first phone call.
What will a well on my property actually cost?
It depends on how deep the first clean sand sits under your land, and in Victoria County that runs from about 120 feet in the river bottoms to past 300 feet on some upland parcels. The table below puts our published prices against those depth bands so you can place your own parcel. Every number comes from the same cost guide the invoice reconciles against.
| Depth and bore | Where we see it | Complete well | What is in the number |
|---|---|---|---|
| 120 to 180 feet, 4 inch house well | River bottom parcels near Mission Valley, Nursery and the Guadalupe side of Victoria | $6,500 to $8,500 | Shallow sand, short casing string, standard half horsepower submersible |
| 180 to 260 feet, 4 inch house well | Most homesites toward Inez, Telferner, Placedo and Bloomington | $8,000 to $10,500 | Longer casing and screen, pump set deeper, often a three quarter horsepower pump |
| 260 to 320 feet, 4 inch house well | Upland parcels, or anywhere the first sand runs iron heavy and gets cased past | $10,000 to $12,000 | Extra casing, a second screen interval, one horsepower pump and a larger pressure tank |
| Over 320 feet, or a 6 inch bore | Ranch irrigation, livestock at volume, a barndominium with a shop and a big garden | $8,000 to $20,000 and up | Priced on the irrigation line; gallons per minute sets bore size and rig time |
The spread inside each band is the water system. A submersible pump replacement on its own is $1,200 to $2,800 and a pressure tank is $500 to $1,200, and a new well carries both plus the hookup at the wellhead. A shallow well with a small pump and a standard tank sits at the low end. A deeper set with a one horsepower motor and an 80 gallon tank sits at the top. The site visit and the written quote are free either way, and there is no trip charge anywhere on the service area.
How do I find out how deep my well will need to be?
Read the State Well Reports filed on wells near yours. Texas requires a licensed driller to file one on every completed hole, and the Texas Water Development Board publishes them in a searchable driller report database. Search Victoria County, zoom to your road, and the reports show the total depth, the sands each driller hit and where the screen was set. Three or four reports within a mile of your parcel give a tighter depth estimate than any rule of thumb.
That is the same check we run before writing a quote. The Gulf Coast Aquifer under Victoria is a stack of sand and clay layers, and the layer that carries clean water at 160 feet in Nursery may sit at 240 feet in Inez. A driller who guesses the depth and quotes a lump sum either pads the number to cover the guess or sends an overage invoice when the sand runs deeper. A per foot rate tied to the nearby reports removes both problems.
Six things that move a well quote up or down
In rough order of how much each one matters on a house well around Victoria.
- Depth to the first clean sand. Every foot drilled is a foot of rig time, casing and grout, so footage is the whole game on a house well. Between 150 and 300 feet is the normal spread in Victoria County, and the filed State Well Reports on your road tell you where your parcel sits before anyone drives out.
- Bore and casing diameter. A 4 inch casing serves a house. A 6 inch bore lets a bigger pump deliver the 30 to 60 gallons per minute a pivot or a stock operation needs, and it costs more per foot in both drilling and steel or PVC.
- Water quality in the first zone. Some sands around Victoria run iron heavy or smell of sulfur. Casing past that zone to a cleaner one adds footage, and screening it carefully adds material. Cheaper to do while the rig is on site than to treat forever.
- Pump horsepower and setting depth. A deeper water level means a bigger motor pushing against more head. Half horsepower to one horsepower covers most houses here, and the jump between them is a few hundred dollars in the pump line.
- Access for the rig. A drilling rig and its water truck need a firm path and room to set up. Soft black clay after a wet week, a tight gate or a long run from the road can add a half day, which is the one site factor you can fix before the quote.
- What the old well needs. If a new well replaces a dead one, state rule requires the abandoned hole to be plugged. That is its own line, $1,000 to $2,500 by depth, and it protects the sand your new well draws from.
Permits, registration and the paperwork cost
There is no drilling permit fee in Victoria County, and the paperwork that does exist should cost you nothing extra. The Victoria County Groundwater Conservation District stopped requiring drilling permits and instead asks for a written notice of intent before the rig starts and registration of the finished well. Larger wells can need a production permit, which the district decides by pumping volume. The driller also files the State Well Report with TDLR and the water board. On our jobs all of it rides inside the price on the table. A bid that lists a separate permit fee for a house well in this county deserves a question. The full picture is on our rules and registration page.
One cost that is on you after the well runs: testing the water. Texas does not test private wells, and the Texas Well Owner Network at Texas A&M AgriLife Extension recommends owners test annually for bacteria and nitrate. A bacteria plus minerals lab test runs $150 to $350 and tells you whether the iron or sulfur you can smell needs treatment or just a different screen depth next time.
Why the national cost sites get Victoria wrong
The directories quote Texas wells from $3,000 to $38,000, which is true and useless. That spread covers a 60 foot sand point near the coast and a 1,000 foot bore in the Hill Country. Victoria County house wells cluster between 150 and 300 feet in soft sands, which is why our complete well range is narrow enough to budget from. Hold any bid to the same test: ask for the per foot rate, the expected depth and which nearby reports it came from. The hiring side of that conversation is in what to look for before hiring a well driller.
Cost questions well owners ask us
Do I need a permit to drill a well in Victoria County, and what does it cost?
No drilling permit. The Victoria County Groundwater Conservation District requires written notice of intent before the rig starts and registration of the finished well, and a production permit can apply to larger wells. The licensed driller files the State Well Report with the state. On our jobs that paperwork rides inside the price.
Why is the per foot price a range instead of one number?
Bore size and formation. A 4 inch house well through soft Gulf Coast sands drills near the bottom of $30 to $55 per foot. A 6 inch bore, a harder clay cap or a hole that needs a second screen interval moves toward the top. After we read the nearby well reports we commit to one per foot number in writing, with the overage rate next to it.
What is not in the complete well price?
The electrical run from your panel to the wellhead, which your electrician prices, and any treatment equipment such as a softener or iron filter. Everything that makes water come out of a faucet is in: drilling, casing and screen, gravel pack and grout, development, the pump, the pressure tank, the wellhead hookup and the filings.
Is it cheaper to deepen my old well than drill new?
Sometimes. Deepening or reworking an existing well runs $3,000 to $8,000, but only when the casing is sound and the old hole is in the right spot. We camera and test before recommending it, because a rework on cracked casing is money spent twice.
Price your parcel against its neighbors
Call (361) 266-2481 or send the form with your road and what the well needs to supply. We pull the well reports around your land and put the depth and the per foot number in writing before anyone drives out.