Plumbing Problems by Metro: Leaks and Water Outages in the 15 Largest US Metros
The short answer
Among the 15 largest US metros, the Washington DC area has the highest rate of plumbing leaks: 13.5 percent of homes had water leak inside from an inside source in a year, against 8.4 percent nationally and 3.9 percent in Miami, according to an analysis of the 2023 American Housing Survey. Houston and Washington DC had the highest rates of homes losing all running water in three months, 4.6 and 4.6 percent.
What the table shows
The American Housing Survey samples enough homes in the 15 largest metropolitan areas to estimate each one separately from the national file. That makes it possible to compare plumbing failure rates across the country’s biggest housing markets with the same questions, the same year and the same method. This report ranks the 15 on five measures: leaks from inside the home, leaking pipes specifically, leaks from outside, complete loss of running water, and every toilet out of service at once. Our report on household plumbing problems over time tracks the same measures nationally since the survey’s redesign.
| Metro area | Inside leak | ± | Pipe leak | Outside leak | Lost all water | ± | All toilets out |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington DC | 13.5% | 1.2 | 5.8% | 9.0% | 4.6% | 0.9 | 1.5% |
| New York | 10.4% | 1.3 | 4.7% | 10.6% | 4.4% | 0.8 | 2.6% |
| Philadelphia | 9.9% | 1.4 | 4.5% | 11.9% | 2.3% | 0.6 | 1.3% |
| Boston | 8.9% | 1.1 | 3.3% | 10.8% | 2.4% | 0.6 | 2.3% |
| Seattle | 8.6% | 1.0 | 3.6% | 5.0% | 2.2% | 0.6 | 0.9% |
| Detroit | 8.4% | 1.1 | 3.3% | 10.4% | 2.5% | 0.7 | 1.9% |
| Houston | 8.3% | 1.1 | 3.5% | 6.4% | 4.6% | 0.8 | 2.1% |
| Chicago | 7.7% | 1.1 | 3.0% | 8.5% | 2.2% | 0.5 | 1.1% |
| Riverside-San Bernardino | 7.7% | 1.2 | 3.5% | 8.5% | 2.6% | 0.7 | 2.1% |
| Dallas-Fort Worth | 7.6% | 1.1 | 3.0% | 6.3% | 4.0% | 0.8 | 2.0% |
| Phoenix | 7.6% | 1.2 | 3.1% | 6.4% | 3.3% | 0.9 | 1.1% |
| Los Angeles | 7.5% | 1.1 | 3.9% | 10.1% | 4.4% | 0.9 | 2.0% |
| San Francisco | 7.3% | 1.1 | 3.3% | 12.4% | 4.5% | 0.8 | 1.5% |
| Atlanta | 6.0% | 1.0 | 3.4% | 4.2% | 2.8% | 0.7 | 0.5% |
| Miami | 3.9% | 0.8 | 1.6% | 4.8% | 1.6% | 0.6 | 0.9% |
| United States | 8.4% | 0.3 | 3.7% | 8.8% | 3.5% | 0.2 | 1.7% |
Source: calculated by The Plumbing Brief from the AHS 2023 National PUF. Leaks: share of occupied homes, previous 12 months. Lost all water and toilets out: previous 3 months, among homes with piped water and with a flush toilet. Margins are 90 percent, in percentage points. Metro names are shortened; areas are 2013 OMB metropolitan statistical areas.
Sourced figures
- Washington DC: inside leak 13.5 percent (±1.2), lost all water 4.6 percent (±0.9), from 2,436,000 occupied homes. Source: calculated from AHS 2023 PUF.
- New York: inside leak 10.4 percent (±1.3), lost all water 4.4 percent (±0.8), from 7,935,000 occupied homes. Source: calculated from AHS 2023 PUF.
- Philadelphia: inside leak 9.9 percent (±1.4), lost all water 2.3 percent (±0.6), from 2,505,000 occupied homes. Source: calculated from AHS 2023 PUF.
- Boston: inside leak 8.9 percent (±1.1), lost all water 2.4 percent (±0.6), from 1,976,000 occupied homes. Source: calculated from AHS 2023 PUF.
- Seattle: inside leak 8.6 percent (±1.0), lost all water 2.2 percent (±0.6), from 1,643,000 occupied homes. Source: calculated from AHS 2023 PUF.
- National inside leak rate: 8.4 percent; national water stoppage rate 3.5 percent. Source: AHS 2023.
- Lowest inside leak rate: Miami, 3.9 percent (±0.8). Source: calculated from AHS 2023 PUF.
- Lowest water stoppage rate: Miami, 1.6 percent. Source: calculated from AHS 2023 PUF.
What we calculated
Leak rates differ 3.5-fold between the big metros
Formula. Highest metro inside-leak rate divided by the lowest.
Calculation. Washington DC 13.5 / Miami 3.9 = 3.5. The margins (±1.2 and ±0.8) do not overlap.
Finding. The national average hides large regional differences. Older, denser, more rental-heavy metros in the Northeast corridor sit at the top; the Sun Belt metros with newer housing sit lower, consistent with the age gradient in our national leak report.
Limitations. Metro differences combine housing age, building type, tenure and climate. This comparison does not separate them.
Water outages track the water system, not the leak rate
Formula. Rank correlation between metro inside-leak rates and water stoppage rates, compared descriptively.
Calculation. The two highest outage rates are in Houston and Washington DC; the lowest is Miami at 1.6 percent. Several metros with average leak rates have high outage rates and vice versa.
Finding. A complete loss of running water is often a utility main break, a building riser repair or a planned shutoff rather than a failure inside the home, so it follows different drivers from household leaks.
Limitations. The AHS does not record the cause of a stoppage.
If you quote one number
- Washington DC: 13.5 percent of homes had an inside leak in a year, the highest of the 15 largest metros.
- Miami: 3.9 percent, the lowest.
- Houston: 4.6 percent of homes lost all running water in three months.
Download the data
Five measures for each metro with margins of error, estimates and bases. Published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Attribution: The Plumbing Brief.
Plumbing problem rates for the 15 largest US metros (AHS 2023) (CSV)
How this report was built
Methodology
Source. 2023 American Housing Survey National Public Use File v1.1, downloaded from the Census Bureau on 4 October 2026.
Universe. Occupied housing units in the 15 metropolitan areas identified on the national PUF (OMB13CBSA). Water stoppage: homes with hot and cold piped water. Toilet outage: homes with a flush toilet.
Items used. LEAKI, LEAKIPIPE, LEAKO (12 months); NOWAT, NOTOIL (3 months); OMB13CBSA.
Estimation. Weighted with the PUF final weight (WEIGHT) and its 160 replicate weights. Margins of error are 90 percent, from successive difference replication (variance = 4/160 × Σ(replicate − full)²), the method that reproduces the Census Bureau’s published margins exactly. National totals quoted in this report match the Bureau’s published Table Creator estimates.
Derived figures. All breakdowns by metro, region, tenure, income and housing type are calculated by The Plumbing Brief from the public use file.
Retrieval date. 4 October 2026.
Data limitations
- Self-reported by households. Problems a household did not notice or recall are not counted.
- The 2023 AHS is one cross-section. It shows differences between places and groups, not change over time.
- Metro areas use 2013 OMB delineations as coded on the PUF, which differ slightly from current metro boundaries.
- Where two margins of error overlap, the difference between the groups should not be treated as established.
- Only the 15 largest metros can be estimated from the national file. Smaller metros are not covered.
- Metro samples are a few thousand homes each, so margins are roughly ±1 point for leaks and ±0.5 to 1 point for outages.
Source quality ranking
Tier 1. US Census Bureau and HUD, American Housing Survey 2023, National Public Use File v1.1; AHS 2023 Table Specifications and PUF Estimates for User Verification; AHS 2023 Definitions.
Tier 2. None used. Tier 3. None used.
Summary for reporters
13.5 percent of homes in the Washington DC metro area had water leak inside from an inside source during the previous year, the highest rate among the 15 largest US metros, according to an analysis of the 2023 American Housing Survey by The Plumbing Brief. The national rate was 8.4 percent and the lowest metro rate was 3.9 percent in Miami. Houston and Washington DC had the highest shares of homes completely losing running water in a three-month period, at 4.6 and 4.6 percent.
Angles this supports
- Which big city has the leakiest homes
- Washington DC tops the plumbing leak table
- Miami homes leak least among big metros
- Where homes lose running water most often
- Plumbing problems in your metro, ranked
Questions this answers
Which US city has the most plumbing leaks? Among the 15 largest metros, the Washington DC area, where 13.5 percent of homes had an inside leak in a year (AHS 2023).
Which city has the fewest leaks? Miami, at 3.9 percent.
Where do homes lose running water most often? Houston (4.6 percent in three months) and Washington DC (4.6 percent).
How does New York compare? New York: inside leaks 10.4 percent, water stoppages 4.4 percent.
Why only 15 metros? Those are the metros the national AHS sample is designed to estimate separately.
How to cite this report
The Plumbing Brief, “Plumbing Problems by Metro: Leaks and Water Outages in the 15 Largest US Metros”, https://theplumbingbrief.com/plumbing-problems-by-metro/, accessed [date].
Last reviewed: 2026-10-04.
