The cost of water and wastewater service (“W/WW”) in the United States has drawn increased attention in recent years. One concern in public discussions about the cost of W/WW, however, is the lack of comprehensive data about the amount that households actually spend for W/WW.

The Census Bureau has collected data that provides an unprecedented “snapshot” of the actual cost of W/WW to households. The “long form” survey for the 2000 census collected detailed information about household incomes and expenditures during 1999 from a stratified sample of approximately one percent of the households in the country, or about 1.2 million households.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the data from the census survey to begin to provide a more detailed picture of the cost of W/WW to households with various characteristics.

Reprinted with Permission from Scott Rubin