More and More People in U.S. Cities Have No Running Water

Jan 20, 2025

The number of people in the U.S. living without indoor plumbing has been increasing for more than a decade—and most of them live in cities—according to a study published in the journal Nature Cities.

This “plumbing poverty,” as experts call the lack of indoor plumbing, used to be a problem of the countryside. But in the 1990s the problem began to shift to cities. The 2008 global financial crisis and the ongoing crisis of unaffordable housing accelerated the trend. Today, half a million U.S. households, corresponding to at least 1.1 million people, don’t have running water. And more than 70% of those households are in cities.

The cities with the most widespread plumbing poverty are some of the cities thought of as the most affluent. New York City leads the pack, with 56,900 people living without running water (2021 figure). Los Angeles is second with 45,900 people, and San Francisco 24,400. Needless to say, these residents live in working-class neighborhoods.

Reasons behind increasing plumbing poverty are skyrocketing rent and the overall cost of living. Many of the people who don’t have running water have jobs, but they can only afford the sub-standard housing that lacks basic amenities. Some live in sheds and warehouses. Others have had water disconnected because they fell behind with water bills.

Historically, the biggest gains in public health and life expectancy were achieved thanks to basic sanitation—easy access to clean running water, flush toilets and sewage systems, frequent bathing or showers. But all that progress is now being reversed. And the reason for it is the workings of the capitalist system.

The driving force of the capitalist economy, the reckless pursuit of profit, drives prices up and wages down. So, as a few already-rich bosses get obscenely wealthy, masses of working class people, whose labor creates all that wealth, are pushed into abject poverty.