What Homeowners Spend on Plumbing Projects: AHS Cost and DIY Index, 2023
The short answer
US homeowners completed 9.9 million plumbing fixture projects, 7.9 million water heater replacements and 3.6 million interior pipe jobs in two years, according to the 2023 American Housing Survey. The Census median cost was $542 for fixtures and $1,000 for pipes. Projects done by a hired contractor had a median pipe cost 6 times that of DIY jobs.
Where the index stands
Every two years the American Housing Survey asks homeowners which improvement and repair projects they completed, what each cost and whether the household did most of the work. That makes it the only nationally representative source of what Americans actually spend on plumbing, as opposed to what contractors quote or what cost-guide sites estimate. This index ranks the plumbing project types by volume and sets the Census Bureau’s published median costs beside the do-it-yourself share.
| Project (last 2 years) | Projects | ± | Median cost | Mean cost | Done mostly by household |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Added or replaced plumbing fixtures | 9,918,000 | 364,000 | $542 | $1,979 | 47.4% (±1.6) |
| Added or replaced water heater | 7,857,000 | 298,000 | $1,000 | n/a | 34.5% (±1.6) |
| Added or replaced dishwasher or garbage disposal | 8,523,000 | 292,000 | $600 | n/a | 47.2% (±1.7) |
| Added or replaced interior water pipes | 3,589,000 | 229,000 | $1,000 | $2,911 | 36.0% (±2.6) |
| Remodeled a bathroom | 7,467,000 | 268,000 | $5,000 | $9,322 | 42.5% (±2.0) |
| Added or replaced septic tank | 548,000 | 81,000 | $5,000 | $7,945 | 13.6% (±5.2) |
| Added a bathroom | 329,000 | 62,000 | $10,130 | $21,490 | 37.9% (±8.6) |
Source: Census Bureau, AHS 2023 Table Creator estimates (Home Improvement Costs table, owner-occupied units) for counts, medians and means. Water heater and dishwasher or disposal projects are published together by the Census Bureau; the separate counts and medians shown for those two rows are calculated by The Plumbing Brief from the PUF, where Census adds noise to dollar amounts. DIY shares calculated from the PUF.
The underlying series, sourced
- Plumbing fixture projects: 9,918,000 (±364,000), median cost $542, mean $1,979, total spend $18.56 billion. Source: AHS 2023 Table Creator.
- Interior water pipe projects: 3,589,000 (±229,000), median $1,000, mean $2,911, total $9.87 billion. Source: AHS 2023 Table Creator.
- Septic tank projects: 548,000 (±81,000), median $5,000, mean $7,945. Source: AHS 2023 Table Creator.
- Bathroom remodels: 7,467,000 (±268,000), median $5,000, total $68.9 billion. Source: AHS 2023 Table Creator.
- Bathroom additions: 329,000, median $10,130. Source: AHS 2023 Table Creator.
- Water heater, dishwasher and garbage disposal projects combined: 16,380,000, median $800, total $18.13 billion. Source: AHS 2023 Table Creator.
- Of those, water heater projects alone: 7,857,000 (±298,000), PUF median $1,000. Source: calculated from the AHS 2023 PUF.
- All home improvement projects by owners, all types: 139,946,000, median $2,000. Source: AHS 2023 Table Creator.
- DIY share of fixture projects: 47.4 percent; water heaters: 34.5 percent; pipes: 36.0 percent; septic: 13.6 percent. Source: calculated from the AHS 2023 PUF.
- Owners in homes built before 1940 who replaced interior water pipes in two years: 6.2 percent; homes built 2010 or later: 1.1 percent. Source: calculated from the AHS 2023 PUF.
Reading the series
| Project | Median if household did most work | Median if hired out | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Added or replaced plumbing fixtures | $300 | $990 | 3.3x |
| Added or replaced water heater | $700 | $1,400 | 2.0x |
| Added or replaced dishwasher or garbage disposal | $500 | $690 | 1.4x |
| Added or replaced interior water pipes | $300 | $1,800 | 6.0x |
| Remodeled a bathroom | $2,000 | $8,000 | 4.0x |
Source: calculated by The Plumbing Brief from the AHS 2023 PUF. Census rounds, top-codes and adds noise to dollar amounts on the PUF, so these medians are indicative; the published medians in the first table are the authoritative figures. Septic tanks and bathroom additions are omitted from this table because too few sampled households did that work themselves to support a DIY median.
How the index is constructed
Hiring out a pipe job costs about 6 times doing it yourself
Formula. Median reported cost of jobs where someone outside the household did most of the work, divided by the median where the household did most of it.
Calculation. Pipes: $1,800 / $300 = 6.0. Fixtures: $990 / $300 = 3.3. Water heaters: $1,400 / $700 = 2.0.
Finding. The gap is widest where labour dominates the bill (repiping) and narrowest where equipment does (water heaters, where the tank is most of the cost either way). It is a price for labour and expertise, but also a scope difference: hired pipe jobs are more often whole-house work. Our guide to the cost to repipe a house explains why labour dominates that bill.
Limitations. The two groups are not doing identical jobs. The ratio describes what households paid, not what the same job would cost each way.
Plumbing is a third to a half DIY
Formula. Weighted share of projects where a household member did more than half the work.
Calculation. Fixtures 47.4 percent, water heaters 34.5, pipes 36.0, septic 13.6, against 14.2 for roofing and 11.7 for central air conditioning.
Finding. Plumbing is far more of a DIY trade than roofing or HVAC. Nearly half of fixture swaps and one in three water heater replacements are done by the owner, which is the contractor’s real competitor in the replacement market. Our guide to how long water heaters last covers the signs that a replacement is due.
Limitations. The AHS asks who did most of the work, not whether a permit was pulled or whether a licensed plumber signed off.
Repiping tracks pipe age
Formula. Share of owner-occupied homes reporting an interior water pipe project in two years, by year built.
Calculation. 6.2 percent of pre-1940 homes, falling to 2.3 percent for 2000 to 2009 and 1.1 percent for homes built since 2010.
Finding. Pipe replacement demand sits in the older stock and has not yet reached homes built with PEX and modern copper. That mirrors the leak rates in our household leak report.
Limitations. Some older homes were repiped before the survey window and will not show here; the rate measures current activity, not lifetime replacement.
The number to quote
- Homeowners replaced plumbing fixtures 9.9 million times in two years, median cost $542.
- Interior pipe projects: 3.6 million in two years, median $1,000, $9.9 billion in total.
- About 7.9 million water heaters were replaced or added by owners in two years.
- Septic tank replacements had a median cost of $5,000.
- 47 percent of fixture jobs are done by the homeowner.
Download the data
Counts, published medians and means, total spend, DIY shares and DIY versus hired medians for seven plumbing project types. Published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Attribution: The Plumbing Brief.
Plumbing project counts, costs and DIY shares (AHS 2023) (CSV)
How this report was built
Methodology
Source. 2023 American Housing Survey National Public Use File, version 1.1, downloaded from the Census Bureau on 4 October 2026. The AHS is sponsored by HUD and conducted by the Census Bureau; the 2023 national sample covers about 133.2 million occupied homes once weighted.
Universe. Owner-occupied units (the home improvement module is asked only of owners), projects in the two years before interview with a reported DIY status, as in the Census Bureau’s own table.
Items used. Project file: JOBTYPE (21 interior water pipes, 22 plumbing fixtures, 28 septic tank, 29 water heater, 30 dishwasher or garbage disposal, 12 bathroom remodel, 08 bathroom addition), JOBCOST, JOBDIY; household file: WEIGHT, REPWEIGHT1 to 160, YRBUILT, TENURE. Projects are weighted with the household weight. Weighted medians use positive costs only, as Census does.
Estimation. Every estimate is a weighted total using the PUF final weight (WEIGHT). Before any cross-tabulation was run, the national totals were reproduced against the Census Bureau’s own published Table Creator figures; every national figure quoted in this report matches the published estimate exactly.
Margins of error. Calculated from the 160 replicate weights supplied on the PUF (REPWEIGHT1 to REPWEIGHT160) by successive difference replication, variance = 4/160 × Σ(replicate − full)², at the 90 percent confidence level (1.645 standard errors). The method reproduces the Census Bureau’s published margins exactly for the national rows checked (for example 11,215,000 homes with an inside leak, ±346,000). Percentages carry margins in percentage points.
Derived figures. All cross-tabulations by year built, building type, tenure, division and metro status, all rates and all ratios are calculated by The Plumbing Brief from the PUF. They are not published Census tables.
Retrieval date. 4 October 2026.
Data limitations
- Costs are reported by the homeowner and include materials and any paid labour. They are not contractor invoices.
- Census rounds, top-codes and adds noise to dollar amounts on the PUF. Where the Census Bureau publishes a median, that figure is used; PUF medians are shown only where no published figure exists and are labelled.
- The module covers owners only. Landlord-paid work on rental units is not included, which understates total plumbing spending.
- A two-year window is the survey’s design. Annual volumes are roughly half the figures shown but should not be quoted as exact annual counts.
- Costs are in nominal dollars as reported for jobs completed in 2021 to 2023 and are not inflation adjusted.
- Small project groups (bathroom additions, septic) carry wide margins on counts and medians.
Source quality ranking
Tier 1. US Census Bureau and US Department of Housing and Urban Development, American Housing Survey 2023, National Public Use File v1.1, household file; AHS 2023 Table Specifications and PUF Estimates for User Verification; AHS 2023 Definitions (Appendix A); AHS 2023 Value Labels Package. AHS 2023 National PUF project file.
Tier 2. None used. Tier 3. None used.
Excluded. Insurance-industry claim frequencies and leak-sensor vendor statistics. Both describe customers of a product, not a representative sample of US homes, and neither publishes a sampling method.
Briefing note
US homeowners completed about 9.9 million plumbing fixture projects, 7.9 million water heater projects and 3.6 million interior water pipe projects in the two years before the 2023 American Housing Survey. The Census Bureau’s published median costs were $542 for fixtures, $1,000 for pipes and $5,000 for septic tank replacement, with interior pipe work totalling $9.9 billion. An analysis of the survey’s public use file by The Plumbing Brief found that households did most of the work themselves on 47 percent of fixture projects and 34 percent of water heater projects, and that hired-out pipe jobs had a median cost about 6 times that of DIY pipe jobs.
Story angles
- What Americans really spend on plumbing, according to the Census
- The plumber’s biggest competitor is the homeowner
- Four million water heaters a year, and a third are DIY
- Repiping is an old-house problem: the data
- Hiring out a pipe job costs six times doing it yourself
Common questions about the index
How much do homeowners spend on plumbing fixtures? The Census median for a fixture project was $542 and the mean $1,979 (AHS 2023).
How much does it cost to replace water pipes? The Census median for an interior water pipe project was $1,000, the mean $2,911. Hired-out jobs had a PUF median of $1,800.
How much does a septic tank replacement cost? The Census median was $5,000 and the mean $7,945, based on 548,000 projects.
How many water heaters do homeowners replace? About 7,857,000 water heater projects in two years, roughly 3.9 million a year, with a PUF median of $1,000.
How many homeowners do their own plumbing? Households did most of the work on 47.4 percent of fixture projects, 34.5 percent of water heater projects and 36.0 percent of pipe projects.
How much does a bathroom remodel cost? The Census median was $5,000 and the mean $9,322 across 7.5 million remodels in two years.
Are these contractor prices? No. They are what homeowners report spending, including DIY projects. Hired-only medians are shown separately and are higher.
Why are water heaters estimated differently? The Census Bureau publishes water heaters together with dishwashers and garbage disposals. The separate figures here are calculated from the public use file.
How to cite this report
The Plumbing Brief, “What Homeowners Spend on Plumbing Projects: AHS Cost and DIY Index, 2023”, https://theplumbingbrief.com/what-homeowners-spend-on-plumbing/, accessed [date].
Last reviewed: 2026-10-04.
