American households are paying 62% more for drinking water than they did a decade ago, a rate of increase that has outpaced consumer inflation (39%), grocery prices (30%), and median household income growth by 19 percentage points. The numbers come from Food & Water Watch's analysis of 2025 billing data across the 500 largest community water systems, which serve roughly 155 million people — about 45% of the US population. The average household consuming 60,000 gallons now pays $531 a year, but bills range from $133 at the cheapest system to $1,416 at the most expensive. The geographic variance is brutal. New Hampshire saw a 177% jump in water bills over the decade, Oregon 114%, and West Virginia 95%. In Louisiana, Maryland, and West Virginia, water bills grew at roughly twice the rate of state median incomes. In New Hampshire, water costs climbed nearly five times faster than household earnings. California accounts for 52% of the 25 most expensive systems nationally. The sharpest finding is the ownership gap. Corporate-owned water utilities charge an average of $823 per year versus $494 for publicly owned systems — a 67% premium. Private systems represent just 11% of the 500 systems studied but account for 44% of the 25 most expensive systems and 70% of the top 10. Every single one of the 25 cheapest systems is publicly owned. For low-income households, the picture is worse. Water bills exceed the study's affordability threshold — 1.5% of income — in 93% of systems for the bottom fifth of earners. Only Idaho and Utah stay below. In West Virginia, water consumes about 11% of low-income household income. In Puerto Rico, it reaches roughly 20%, a level the study calls "simply unaffordable by any metric." The cost drivers are real and compounding: aging infrastructure, lead pipe replacement, PFAS contamination cleanup, nitrate pollution from industrial agriculture, cybersecurity mandates, and climate-driven severe weather. The American Water Works Association projects that if communities rely solely on bill revenue to address these needs, average annual household bills will more than double in real terms by 2050, reaching $969. At that level, an estimated 30.4 million households — 21.5% — would spend more than 2.5% of income on drinking water, and $13.6 billion per year in assistance would be needed to maintain affordability. The National Association of Water Companies, representing private utilities, argues that rate comparisons are misleading because they don't account for customer-assistance programs and conservation discounts that reduce what many customers actually pay. They also note that government-owned utilities often face legal restrictions on cross-subsidizing low-income customers. This framing is worth interrogating: if the assistance programs were sufficient, the affordability crisis wouldn't be showing up in 93% of systems. The structural question is whether water — a non-substitutable necessity — should be subject to profit extraction at all. The data suggests a clear pattern: private ownership concentrates at the expensive end, public ownership at the affordable end, and the gap is widening. Without significant federal investment, the choice facing many communities is stark: defer critical safety upgrades or price vulnerable households out of water service entirely.
