Drinking water bills for US households have climbed 62% over the past decade, a pace that outstrips inflation, grocery prices and household income growth, according to a new study by the nonprofit Food & Water Watch.
The Washington, DC-based organization analyzed 2025 billing data from the 500 largest community water systems in the country, which together serve roughly 155 million people — about 45% of the US population. The findings were compared with a similar survey the group conducted in 2015. The study did not include wastewater or storm water charges, which are typically billed separately from drinking water service.
The increase far exceeds the general rise in consumer prices over the same period, meaning that water has become a heavier burden on household budgets even as other essentials have also grown more expensive. The study's co-author attributed the trend to a combination of for-profit water corporations, federal funding cuts and the effects of the climate crisis, which the author said are «supercharging water rate hikes».
Food & Water Watch is a nonprofit advocacy group that has long tracked the affordability of public water services. Its 2015 survey established a baseline for comparing rates across the largest systems, and the new analysis updates that picture with the most recent billing data available. By focusing on the 500 largest systems, the study captures the experience of nearly half the country's residents, though it does not cover the thousands of smaller utilities that serve the remaining population.
The exclusion of wastewater and storm water charges is significant because many households receive a single combined bill that includes those services. When those costs are added, the total amount Americans pay for water-related utilities is often higher than the drinking water portion alone. The study's authors chose to isolate drinking water rates to allow a direct comparison with the 2015 figures.
The findings arrive amid broader national debates over infrastructure investment, the role of private companies in public services and the cost of adapting water systems to climate-related stresses such as drought, flooding and contamination. Federal support for water infrastructure has been a recurring subject of negotiation in Congress, and any reductions in that support can shift costs to local utilities and, ultimately, to ratepayers.
For-profit water corporations have expanded their footprint in some regions, and the study's co-author pointed to them as one driver of higher rates. The analysis also links the increases to federal cuts and climate pressures, suggesting that the forces behind the rate hikes are not purely market-driven but also political and environmental.
The 62% figure represents a national average across the largest systems, and individual communities may have experienced steeper or smaller increases depending on local conditions, infrastructure needs and utility governance. The study does not break down rates by state or region in the material available, but the comparison with 2015 data provides a consistent measure of the direction and scale of change over the decade.
Water affordability has become a growing concern for policymakers and advocates, who warn that rising bills can force low-income households to choose between essential services. The new data adds a concrete measure to that debate, showing that the cost of drinking water has risen faster than the prices of many other goods and services that households purchase regularly.
The study's release comes as communities across the country confront aging pipes, emerging contaminants and the need to upgrade treatment facilities. Those investments carry costs that are often passed on to customers through rate increases, a dynamic that the Food & Water Watch analysis captures in its decade-long comparison.
According to the group's findings, the 62% increase is not an isolated spike but a sustained trend that has accumulated over ten years. The comparison with 2015 billing data shows that the upward pressure on rates has persisted across multiple years and across a wide range of the nation's largest water systems.