# Very small water systems — rate and finance benchmark

> **Cite as:** Municorn.us, "Very small water systems — rate and finance benchmark", Municorn water loss index, https://municorn.us/benchmark/very-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 very small by the population it serves. 26,466 systems in this study are in that category, and 126 are published in full.

| Metric | n | p10 | median | p90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual residential water bill at 72 HCF | 376 | $330 | $929 | $2,130 |
| Water utility revenue per connection | 3,134 | $250 | $509 | $1,126 |
| Water utility operating cost per connection | 2,913 | $153 | $427 | $1,103 |
| Water utility capital spending per connection | 780 | $27 | $228 | $3,872 |
| Operating cost as a share of revenue | 2,837 | 0.34 | 0.81 | 1.57 |
| Annual water bill as a share of median household income | 232 | 0.32% | 0.99% | 2.12% |
| Median household income in the service territory | 13,492 | $48,044 | $76,498 | $130,987 |

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