# Small water systems — rate and finance benchmark

> **Cite as:** Municorn.us, "Small water systems — rate and finance benchmark", Municorn water loss index, https://municorn.us/benchmark/small-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 small by the population it serves. 13,293 systems in this study are in that category, and 197 are published in full.

| Metric | n | p10 | median | p90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual residential water bill at 72 HCF | 256 | $372 | $767 | $1,472 |
| Water utility revenue per connection | 5,442 | $288 | $537 | $1,087 |
| Water utility operating cost per connection | 4,970 | $182 | $429 | $907 |
| Water utility capital spending per connection | 2,072 | $8 | $89 | $1,041 |
| Operating cost as a share of revenue | 4,884 | 0.37 | 0.8 | 1.42 |
| Annual water bill as a share of median household income | 171 | 0.35% | 0.90% | 1.86% |
| Median household income in the service territory | 9,551 | $42,154 | $64,763 | $108,617 |

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