Water well drilling costs $28 to $64 per foot in El Paso, and a complete residential system at the county median depth runs about $10,800 to $18,000. That range is the single most useful number on this page, and the rest of the guide explains what moves you inside it and what pushes you outside it.
For context, published cost data for Texas puts the statewide average complete water well at roughly $8,550 at $25 to $58 per foot, and identifies the Trans-Pecos region, which includes El Paso, as the most expensive in the state at up to around $40,000 on the deepest jobs. El Paso is above the Texas rate per foot because mesa formations are harder to cut and brackish intervals have to be cased off cleanly, and often below the Texas total because local wells are shallower than the national modelling assumes.
El Paso water well cost by depth
Cost tracks depth almost linearly, because rig hours, casing footage and grout volume all scale together. The table applies the local per-foot range across the depths El Paso County wells actually reach.
| Completed depth | Drilling and casing | Complete system |
|---|---|---|
| 100 ft | $2,800 to $6,400 | $7,600 to $11,200 |
| 150 ft | $4,200 to $9,600 | $9,400 to $14,800 |
| 200 ft | $5,600 to $12,800 | $11,200 to $18,400 |
| 300 ft | $8,400 to $19,200 | $14,800 to $25,600 |
| 400 ft | $11,200 to $25,600 | $18,400 to $32,800 |
| 500 ft | $14,000 to $32,000 | $22,000 to $40,000 |
Complete system means casing, pump, pressure tank, electrical, permits and reporting, and water testing. Ranges published for El Paso TX by WellDrillingCosts.
What drives your number up or down
Valley or mesa
This is the biggest single factor and it is decided by your address. Properties on Rio Grande alluvium in the Upper and Lower Valley drill short holes through sand and gravel. Properties east of the Franklin Mountains on the mesa drill through Hueco Bolson basin fill, and the depth distribution in the filed reports has a heavy tail there: 124 county wells exceed 600 feet. Same per-foot rate, several times the footage.
Casing diameter and material
Diameter is set by the pump that has to fit, so the pump conversation belongs in the quote rather than after the hole is finished. Material matters more in brackish ground, where corrosion can shorten the life of the casing well before the borehole runs out of water.
Electrical at the wellhead
On a raw parcel with no service near the well location, running power is a real line item and it is frequently the difference between two quotes that look similar. Wire and drop pipe alone run $1,000 to $1,500 under 100 feet and $3,000 to $5,000 past 500 feet in Texas, before any trenching or service work.
Access
A rig needs room to set up, turn and reach the chosen spot. On tight valley lots with an existing septic system and a 50 foot setback to honor, access sometimes decides the well location, and occasionally decides whether a well is feasible at all.
Pump, tank and electrical: the other half of the budget
On a shallow valley well the equipment can cost more than the hole. These are Texas market ranges rather than El Paso-only figures, and they scale with setting depth for the same reason drilling does.
| Item | Typical Texas range |
|---|---|
| Pump, 0 to 100 ft (1/2 HP) | $500 to $700 |
| Pump, 100 to 200 ft (3/4 HP) | $600 to $900 |
| Pump, 200 to 300 ft (1 HP) | $800 to $1,200 |
| Pump, 300 to 400 ft (1.5 HP) | $1,000 to $1,500 |
| Pump, 400 to 600 ft (2 HP) | $1,200 to $1,800 |
| Pump, 600 ft and deeper (3 HP) | $1,500 to $2,000 and up |
| Pump replacement, installed | $1,200 to $3,500 |
| Complete pump system, installed | $2,500 to $6,000 |
| Pressure tank, 20 to 120 gallon | $500 to $2,000 |
| Wiring and drop pipe by depth | $1,000 to $5,000 |
Texas ranges published by WellDrillingCosts. A national cross-check from the This Old House 2026 well pump cost guide puts replacement at $900 to $2,500, so treat the Texas figures as the planning range and expect the final number to be set by lift and by how much drop pipe and wire have to be replaced.
What a quote has to tell you to be comparable
Four items, and a quote missing them cannot be compared with another quote however similar the totals look. The assumed target depth. The per-foot rate. The casing diameter and material. And the mechanism if the hole has to go deeper than planned, which on a mesa well is the clause that matters most.
Then check what the total includes. Drilling and casing, or a complete system through to a working tap? The gap between those two is thousands, and it is the most common reason a cheap bid stops looking cheap halfway through the job.
Once you have a depth in mind, the El Paso County permit guide covers what the state requires, and the aquifer and well depth guide explains how to read the filed reports near your property. When you want a real number, send the address through the contact form.