Available here
The distributions. Every percentile table behind every chart in the benchmark, as CSV and JSON. National, by size category, by region, by state, by rate structure and by type of owner. Cohorts of fewer than thirty systems are not published, which is the rule this site already keeps for a state median.
These are computed over all 49,378 systems rather than over the named sample. The sample governs which systems are named; every distribution, median and count on this site is over every system in the record. Nationally the residential bill is a distribution over 1,108 systems and revenue per connection over 13,843, far more than the 985 that appear by name.
Use, quote, redistribute and build on them. Attribution is appreciated and is the only thing asked.
The method. How the benchmark is built covers how the figures are checked, why one is sometimes blank, and what they were checked against.
The systems that are named. Every system serving over 100,000 people, and a stratified random sample of the rest, appear on this site with their figures and with the reason for each of their blanks.
Not served here
The full file: a row per community water system, with every published field and the reason behind every withheld figure.
There is no URL for it. It is not linked, not in the sitemap, and not behind a form. Write to us and ask: [email protected].
There is no paywall and no rate limit; anyone who asks gets it. We ask because the per-system rows are usually an input to a specific piece of work, and we would rather know what that work is.
Limitations
A number here describes a filing, not a utility. Filings are consistent across thousands of systems, which is what makes them comparable. They are not an audit. Two specifics to carry into anything you quote:
- Water utility revenue and spending come from a government’s own statutory return, and roughly a quarter of those amounts are the collecting agency’s estimate rather than the government’s own report. Every figure carries that distinction.
- Household income for a system that is not a municipality is a population-weighted mean of small-area medians, which is not a median. It is labelled as derived everywhere it appears.
Citing it
Municorn.us, The 2026 American Water Rate and Finance Benchmark. https://municorn.us/benchmark/
A versioned deposit of the aggregate layer with a DOI is in preparation. This page will carry the DOI once it exists.