# Large water systems — rate and finance benchmark

> **Cite as:** Municorn.us, "Large water systems — rate and finance benchmark", Municorn water loss index, https://municorn.us/benchmark/large-systems/ (source filings retrieved 2026-09-12).
> **Licence:** CC BY 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ — reuse and redistribution are permitted with attribution to Municorn.us and a link to this URL.
> **Caveat that must travel with these figures:** "Water loss" is at least three different quantities depending on the jurisdiction, and nothing here supports a comparison between states.

EPA calls a system large by the population it serves. 4,122 systems in this study are in that category, and 87 are published in full.

| Metric | n | p10 | median | p90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual residential water bill at 72 HCF | 274 | $367 | $653 | $1,058 |
| Water utility revenue per connection | 2,338 | $358 | $646 | $1,336 |
| Water utility operating cost per connection | 2,246 | $227 | $448 | $1,006 |
| Water utility capital spending per connection | 1,479 | $11 | $110 | $577 |
| Operating cost as a share of revenue | 2,212 | 0.41 | 0.7 | 1.08 |
| Annual water bill as a share of median household income | 266 | 0.35% | 0.65% | 1.15% |
| Median household income in the service territory | 3,672 | $50,649 | $78,423 | $132,981 |

_Municorn.us · https://municorn.us/benchmark/large-systems/ · CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ · source filings retrieved 2026-09-12_