More than half a million US households live with plumbing poverty

Most Americans take their access to running water for granted.

But according to data from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS), 522,752 U.S. households lacked full access to plumbing in 2021. Of these households, 347,943 had neither a bathtub nor a shower, 419,971 had no hot or cold running water and 246,884 had neither.

This lack of access is sometimes referred to as sanitation poverty. The term specifically refers to a household that does not have hot or cold running water and/or does not have an indoor bathtub or shower.

How has the lack of sanitation changed over time?

The poverty rate in the plumbing industry has fluctuated over the past two decades. Between 2019 and 2021, an additional 50,661 American households lacked a bathtub or shower. Additionally, 53,705 additional households had neither hot nor cold running water, and 48,351 additional households had neither.

The last time sanitation poverty exceeded current levels was in 2011, when 499,903 households did not have a bathtub or shower, 536,397 households did not have hot or cold running water, and 398,435 households had neither.

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