Three estimates of soil moisture from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) programs are compared. The estimates are from a high-resolution atmospheric model with a land surface model, a hydrologic model and in situ observations. Both models demonstrate wetter soil moisture in dry regions and drier soil moistures in wet regions, as compared to the in situ observations. These soil moisture differences occur at most soil depths but are larger at the deeper depths below the surface (100 cm). In terms of soil moisture variance, both models generally have lower standard deviations as compared to the in situ observations, except for near the surface where the in situ and high-resolution, land surface model compare well. These NOAA soil moisture estimates are used for a variety of forecasting and societal applications, and understanding their differences provides important context for their applications and can lead to model improvements.