Well Drilling in Indiana: Costs, Depths & County Guides

Local Help in Indiana, IN

IDNR's water well records for the eight Indiana counties on this site, 49,893 wells in all, put the combined median depth at about 90 ft. That's shallow by national standards because most central Indiana wells finish in glacial sand and gravel or in the first stretch of limestone, siltstone or shale beneath it.

Our county pages run from the Indianapolis area (Marion, Hendricks, Johnson, Morgan and Shelby counties) south and west into the hill country of Brown, Monroe and Putnam counties, where glacial cover thins and wells depend on bedrock fractures and karst instead.

Indiana Service Details

What providers in this area actually see: coverage, common jobs, local pricing factors, and rules worth knowing.

Service Area Notes

County pages on this site: Brown, Hendricks, Johnson, Marion, Monroe, Morgan, Putnam and Shelby counties. Each lists its health department contacts, local well rules and IDNR depth data.
Pump work dominates the requests: most homes here already have a well, and a failed submersible or jet pump is the usual call.
Permits are a county matter on top of state licensing. Marion County requires well and pump permits under Chapter 18 of its code, Hendricks County runs its own groundwater well ordinance, and other counties route questions through the county health department or environmental health office.

Common Jobs in Indiana

Submersible and jet pump replacement on existing wells
New wells for rural homesites and acreage beyond water mains
Pressure tank and switch replacement
Hardness, iron and bacteria testing and treatment
Plugging abandoned wells under state rules

What Drives Pricing Here

Method: our calculator's sedimentary-rock row, $35–$55 per foot, plus $1,500–$4,500 for the permit, pump and pressure tank, applied to each county's IDNR median depth. Every county on our list sits on glacial deposits over sedimentary bedrock, so one row fits all eight.
Typical new well: at the combined IDNR median of about 90 ft, our calculator gives $4,650–$9,450. In Monroe County, where the IDNR median is about 130 ft, it gives $6,050–$11,650.
Pump only: NGWA reports a typical household submersible pump costs $3,000 to $3,200, against about $1,545 to $1,570 for a jet pump. Pump-setting medians on our county pages run from about 45 ft in Shelby County to about 175 ft in Monroe County.
Permits: Marion County lists a $50 well permit and a $50 pump permit, and Hendricks County lists a $20 replacement-pump permit under Ordinance 2016-37.
Licensing: anyone drilling or installing pumps for others needs an IDNR license, which carries a $100 annual fee under 312 IAC 13-2-2.

Permits & Local Rules

Step 1, hire licensed: Indiana requires IDNR-licensed water well drillers and pump installers for work done for others (IC 25-39); owners working on their own well are exempt. The license carries a $100 annual fee (312 IAC 13-2-2).
Step 2, check county rules: Marion County requires a $50 well permit and a $50 pump permit under Chapter 18 of its code, and Hendricks County requires a $20 permit to replace a pump under Ordinance 2016-37. Elsewhere, call the county health department before work starts.
Step 3, site and build: a new well must sit at least 50 ft from a septic tank (410 IAC 6-8.3), and the casing or pitless unit must end at least 1 ft above grade (312 IAC 13-3-2).
Step 4, plug old wells: when a well is taken out of service, the plugging must be reported to IDNR within 30 days (312 IAC 13-10-2).
Agencies: IDNR licenses drillers and keeps the well records, county health departments and environmental health offices handle permits and testing, and USGS mapped the White River outwash aquifer that serves Johnson and Morgan counties.

Geology & Water Table Notes

IDNR well-record medians by county: Shelby about 66 ft, Johnson 77 ft, Marion 87 ft, Morgan 93 ft, Hendricks 99 ft, Brown 100 ft, Putnam 100 ft and Monroe 130 ft.
Outwash sand-and-gravel aquifers along the White River and its tributaries are the most productive in the region, and IDNR notes they're also the most exposed to surface contamination where sand sits near the surface.
Glacial till covers much of the north of the area; where IDNR maps it as thin, as in western Johnson and southern Hendricks counties, wells often yield 5 gallons a minute or less.
Borden siltstone and shale bedrock forms the uplands to the south in Brown, Monroe and Morgan counties, where most water comes from fractures in the upper rock.
Karst limestone bedrock in western Monroe County and central Putnam County carries water fast through fractures and sinkholes, which makes annual bacteria testing important.
Water quality: hardness and iron are common across the region, and Marion County's health department reports elevated arsenic in about 18% of the wells it samples.

Neighborhoods & Suburbs Served

Brown County · Hendricks County · Johnson County · Marion County · Monroe County · Morgan County · Putnam County · Shelby County

Emergency Response Expectations

If a well stops delivering water, pick your county page and mark the request as an emergency; mention livestock or medical needs.

Indiana FAQs

How deep are wells in central Indiana?

IDNR's records for our eight counties put the combined median near 90 ft, from about 66 ft in Shelby County to about 130 ft in Monroe County. Bedrock wells in the southern hills tend to run deeper than outwash wells near the White River.

Who can drill or repair a well in Indiana?

Anyone doing the work for someone else needs an IDNR well driller or pump installer license under IC 25-39. Owners working on their own well are exempt.

Do I need a permit to replace my well pump?

It depends on the county. Marion County requires a $50 pump permit and Hendricks County a $20 replacement-pump permit; other counties may not, so check with the county health department.

How far does a well have to be from a septic tank?

Indiana's septic rules (410 IAC 6-8.3) require at least 50 ft between a well and a septic tank. Some counties add their own setbacks.

What does a new well cost in Indiana?

At our calculator's sedimentary-rock rate, a 90-ft well comes to about $4,650–$9,450 including the permit, pump and pressure tank. A deeper bedrock well costs more.