Kitchen and Bath Remodeling Research

Our kitchen and bath remodeling research turns public data into figures you can check: every number links to its source, every table downloads as a CSV, and every report shows how to reproduce it.

Census ACS 2025 1-year B25034 with Census New Residential Construction starts by region · Updated 2026-11-08

Aluminum Wiring: The 1965 to 1973 Homes, State by State

A state atlas of the homes built in the aluminum branch wiring years, set beside CPSC's findings, its accepted repairs and what insurers and sale forms ask.

EIA-861M monthly residential sales, revenue and customers by state; EIA-861 2025 final; EIA RECS 2020 end-use microdata · Updated 2026-11-02

Average Electric Bill by State, and the Kitchen's Share of It

EIA utility filings through August 2026 give each state's bill; the federal household energy survey shows how much of it the refrigerator, range, microwave and dishwasher draw.

EIA Natural Gas Monthly (residential price, deliveries) with EIA customer counts; EIA 2020 RECS microdata · Updated 2026-11-02

Average Gas Bill by State, Month by Month, and What Cooking Adds

A monthly tracker built from EIA price, volume and customer data, with a cooking share computed from federal survey microdata.

Census Bureau and HUD Survey of Construction (Characteristics of New Housing, annual tables and microdata); American Housing Survey 2023 National PUF v1.1 · Updated 2026-11-01

Average Square Footage of a House: New Homes vs the Homes Americans Live In

Census construction data from 1973 to mid 2026, set beside 2023 American Housing Survey microdata on occupied homes, with bathrooms counted alongside floor area.

Utility residential rate schedules for the 30 most populous US cities, computed by scripts/bill.py · Updated 2026-10-27

Average Water Bill in the 30 Largest US Cities (2026 Rates)

We priced 3,000, 6,000 and 9,000 gallons a month on each city's own posted residential rate schedule, with water and sewer shown separately, so every city is compared on the same volumes.

USGS Estimated use of water in the United States, county-level data for 2015 (ver. 2.0) and 2010 · Updated 2026-10-27

Average Water Usage per Person: Gallons per Day by State

State-by-state domestic water use rebuilt from 3,142 USGS county records, matched to NOAA rainfall and the Water Research Foundation's indoor end-use study.

CPSC National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) 2025 public data file, 410,201 records · Updated 2026-10-27

Bathroom Accidents: Emergency Room Injuries by Age, Fixture and Room (NEISS 2025)

A fresh count from 2025 federal emergency department microdata, built case by case from product codes and injury narratives, with every rule published.

BLS Producer Price Index by commodity (wp flat files) · Updated 2026-11-01

Building Material Prices: 2026 Tracker for Kitchen and Bath Inputs

Twenty BLS producer price indexes for the lumber, tile, copper, fittings and appliances in a remodel, combined into one monthly index from January 2020.

Registry of 15 city fee schedules (compiled by KBR) with computed fees · Updated 2026-11-01

How Much Does a Building Permit Cost? Fees for 3 Remodels Across the Largest US Cities

We read each city's current fee schedule and priced the same three jobs, step by step, so the totals compare like for like.

KBR registry of Florida appellate opinions (flcourts.gov), BLS PPI WPU10150227 and PCU32612232612211 · Updated 2026-11-08

Cast Iron Pipes: How Long Drain Lines Last and the Florida Insurance Fight

A registry of Florida appellate opinions on failed cast iron drains, dated pipe ages from the court record, the claim laws that changed in 2021 to 2023, and producer prices for cast iron and plastic drain pipe.

UN Comtrade US imports HS 680911; CPSC drywall incident reports by state; Census Building Permits Survey · Updated 2026-11-08

Chinese Drywall: The 2006 Imports, the Complaints and the Settlements

Federal trade, complaint and court records show a one-year import window, a Gulf Coast complaint cluster and two settlement tracks, plus what CPSC, HUD and the IRS still say to owners.

BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 · Updated 2026-10-26

Contractor Hourly Rate by State: What Remodeling Trades Earn (2026 Index)

A state index of what plumbers, electricians, carpenters and five other remodeling trades earn, built from official wage data and kept separate from what contractors bill.

CPSC Recalls API (full recall list, 10,082 recalls) and ACS 2025 1-year table B25034 · Updated 2026-11-08

Federal Pacific Panel: The Stab-Lok Record, Zinsco and Every Breaker Recall Since 1990

A dated registry of what the CPSC, two courts and insurers actually recorded, set beside the full federal recall record for home circuit breakers and load centers.

EIA Residential Energy Consumption Survey 2024, public microdata v1; KBR registry of statutes, ordinances and court opinions · Updated 2026-10-27

Gas Stove Ban Tracker: State Laws, City Rules and Court Rulings (2026)

A dated registry of all-electric building rules, the state laws that forbid them and the court rulings in between, paired with new 2024 federal survey data on who cooks with gas.

NFPA NEC enforcement map with state code records; Census Vintage 2025 population; CPSC electrocution reports · Updated 2026-11-01

GFCI Requirements: Where Kitchens and Bathrooms Need Protection, Code by Code

A dated tracker of every NEC cycle that widened GFCI protection in homes, and a state registry showing which edition a remodel has to meet today.

Utility Consumer Confidence Reports and water quality pages (50 cities) · Updated 2026-10-26

Hard Water Map: Tap Water Hardness in the 50 Largest US Cities (2026)

A city-by-city table built from each water utility's own published report, with the report year, the range, and grains per gallon.

EIA-861M and EIA natural gas prices; ENERGY STAR certified heat pump water heaters; DOE 89 FR 37778 · Updated 2026-11-02

Heat Pump Water Heater: Operating Cost and Payback in Every State

KBR priced the federal test day of hot water with each state's latest 12 months of EIA prices, then set the result against DOE's installed-cost estimates and the ENERGY STAR model list.

KBR registry of residential remodeling credentials, 50 states and DC · Updated 2026-10-26

Home Improvement Contractor License Requirements by State (2026)

A registry of all 50 states and DC, built from statutes and licensing board pages, showing who regulates kitchen and bath remodelers, where the dollar trigger sits, and what financial protection each state asks for.

HMDA 2025 Snapshot National Loan-Level Dataset, loan purpose = home improvement · Updated 2026-10-27

Home Improvement Loan Rates and Approval Data (HMDA 2025)

What lenders actually charged on loans secured by the home for remodeling, by lien, product and state, set beside the Federal Reserve personal loan rate, the prime rate and cash-out refinancing.

American Housing Survey 2023 National Public Use File v1.1 (U.S. Census Bureau and HUD) · Updated 2026-10-26

Home Improvement Statistics: Kitchen and Bath Remodels (AHS 2023)

Weighted counts, costs, DIY shares and regional splits for kitchen and bathroom remodels, computed from the federal American Housing Survey microdata.

U.S. DOE energy conservation standards rulemakings (Federal Register, 2009 to 2024) and EIA RECS 2020 public microdata v7 · Updated 2026-11-01

How Long Do Appliances Last? The Federal Lifetime Index for 20 Home Appliances

The Department of Energy sets an average lifetime for every appliance it regulates. We pulled them out of the Federal Register, dated each one, and counted how many units in US homes have outlived theirs.

EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) Lead and Copper Rule sample results, via Envirofacts · Updated 2026-11-01

How Long Do Copper Pipes Last? Pipe Lifespans by Material and Water

An index of what the sourced service-life numbers for six pipe materials actually measure, and a count from EPA records of where tap water carried enough copper to trigger corrosion control.

EIA Residential Energy Consumption Survey public microdata, 2024 (v1, preliminary) and 2020 (v7, final); DOE dishwasher rule EERE-2019-BT-STD-0039 · Updated 2026-11-01

How Long Do Dishwashers Last? Ages of 99.5 Million US Dishwashers

DOE's lifetime model, the age of every dishwasher in EIA's 2020 and 2024 household surveys, and a new look at how weekly use lines up with machine age.

DOE microwave oven rulemakings (2023 final rule; 2013 TSD survival curve), manufacturer warranties, CPSC Recalls API · Updated 2026-11-08

How Long Do Microwaves Last? DOE's Survival Curve, 82 Warranties and 5 Recalls

Federal rulemaking files, written manufacturer warranties and CPSC recall records, read side by side.

DOE consumer conventional cooking products rulemaking (docket EERE-2014-BT-STD-0005), EIA RECS 2024 microdata, CPSC Recalls API · Updated 2026-11-01

How Long Do Ovens Last? Gas, Electric and the Federal Recall Record

Federal rulemaking data put electric cooking products ahead of gas, US households now bake less often than in 2020, and most recalled range units share one failure: controls that switch on by themselves.

EIA RECS 2024 microdata (preliminary) and DOE refrigerator rulemaking, docket EERE-2017-BT-STD-0003 · Updated 2026-10-27

How Long Do Refrigerators Last? DOE Lifespan Data and the Age of US Fridges

Federal lifetime models, 2024 household survey microdata, price indexes and recall counts, combined into one record of how long a fridge stays in an American home.

American Housing Survey 2023 National PUF v1.1 (Census Bureau and HUD) · Updated 2026-11-01

How Long Do Toilets Last? Flush Rules, Breakdowns and Parts

A dated registry of US flush limits, warranty terms by part, and a KBR tabulation of the federal housing survey showing which homes are left with no working toilet.

KBR softener load model built from ACS 2025 1-year table B25010, the KBR hard water map and WRF REU2016, plus a 15-line manufacturer warranty registry · Updated 2026-11-01

How Long Do Water Softeners Last? Resin, Valves and the Hardness Factor

Manufacturer warranty terms, a city-by-city model of how hard a home softener works, and the rules that now limit salt-discharging units.

KBR registry of 47 US dishwasher owner manuals; DOE Federal Register record; EIA RECS 2024 microdata · Updated 2026-11-02

How Long Does a Dishwasher Run? Cycle Times From 47 Current Owner Manuals

A registry of manufacturer-stated cycle times, set against DOE's own testing and the short-cycle rulemaking record.

KBR warranty registry (35 models) with HUD EUL table, CPSC NEISS 2015 to 2025, AHS 1985 to 2013 · Updated 2026-11-01

How Long Does a Garbage Disposal Last? Warranties, Bans and Injuries

A registry of 35 current models, HUD's planning life, four decades of Census housing data and 11 years of federal injury records.

U.S. DOE consumer water heater technical support documents (appendix 8G) and EIA RECS 2020 microdata v7 · Updated 2026-10-27

How Long Does a Water Heater Last? Lifespan Data by Type (2026)

DOE's own survival curves, 18,496 household survey records and eight manufacturers' warranty documents, checked against each other.

Building permit records from 14 city open-data portals (13 indexed) · Updated 2026-10-27

How Long Does It Take to Get a Building Permit? City Data for Remodels

We timed 43,690 residential alteration permits from application to issue in 13 cities' open permit records and built a speed index.

KBR registry of 55 microwave models from manufacturer documents; 10 CFR 430.32(j)(3); EIA RECS 2024 and 2020 · Updated 2026-11-02

How Many Watts Does a Microwave Use? Input vs Cooking Power

Rated input versus cooking power for 55 models, the federal standby cap, EIA use data and a yearly running cost, as of November 2026.

ENERGY STAR Certified Residential Refrigerators (p5st-her9), joined to EIA RECS 2024 and 2020 microdata · Updated 2026-11-02

How Many Watts Does a Refrigerator Use? Every ENERGY STAR Model, Measured

An index of 4,573 US-listed certified refrigerators, converted from annual kWh to average watts, joined to the fridges Americans actually own and priced at 2026 electricity rates.

ENERGY STAR Certified Residential Dishwashers (EPA) and 10 CFR 430.32(f) · Updated 2026-10-27

How Much Water Does a Dishwasher Use? Gallons per Cycle, 1988 to 2027

A tracker of every federal and ENERGY STAR water limit, what 670 certified models are rated at today, and what metered homes actually used.

KBR compilation: 11 state showerhead rules, 160 manufacturer tub capacities, WRF REU2016 shower measurements · Updated 2026-10-27

How Much Water Does a Shower Use? Shower vs Bath by the Gallon (2026)

Flow limits, metered showers and 160 manufacturer tub specifications, set side by side so the shower vs bath question gets a number instead of a rule of thumb.

American Community Survey 2025 1-year, tables B25034 and B25035 (states, US); 2020 to 2024 5-year (counties) · Updated 2026-11-01

How Old Is My House? How to Find the Year Built, and How Old US Homes Are

Assessor, permit, deed and fixture records that date a house, set against a 2025 state and county atlas of housing age, with an original count of homes in the 30 to 49 year band.

Proclamations 10976 and 11000, HTS 2026 Revision 21, BLS PPI, UN Comtrade · Updated 2026-10-26

Kitchen Cabinet Tariffs: Rates, Imports and Prices (2026 Tracker)

A dated record of every duty on imported kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities, built from proclamations, Federal Register notices and the tariff schedule, with the import and price data that show what changed.

USFA residential fire estimates; NFIRS Public Data Release 2023 to 2025; CPSC NEISS 2024 and 2025 · Updated 2026-10-27

Kitchen Fires: US Home Cooking Fire Statistics and Trends (2026 Tracker)

A data tracker built from USFA national estimates, the newest NFIRS incident files, CPSC emergency department data and CPSC recalls, with calendar and equipment detail the headline reports leave out.

American Housing Survey 2023 national PUF v1.1; ACS 2025 1-year table B25034 · Updated 2026-11-02

Knob and Tube Wiring: How Many Homes Date From the Era, and What Insurers Do

No survey counts knob and tube wiring, so this report measures what can be counted: homes old enough to have it, the electrical problems their occupants report to the federal housing survey, and what insurers have put in writing.

EPA 2025 Updated Service Line Projections (7th DWINSA, based on LCRR inventories) · Updated 2026-10-27

Lead Pipes Map: 4.0 Million Lead Service Lines by State (EPA 2025 Update)

A state atlas of EPA's inventory-based lead service line projection, the 2027 to 2037 replacement schedule and how federal money lines up with the pipes.

California Energy Commission MAEDbS toilet listings (export of 2026-11-08) and MaP Testing complete list (2026-09-24) · Updated 2026-11-08

Low Flow Toilet Data: 1.6 vs 1.28 vs 0.8 Gallons, and What Each Saves

We sorted every California-certified toilet by flush volume, matched flush scores to each class, and priced the water saved at 24 cities' real water and sewer rates.

American Housing Survey 2023 National Public Use File v1.1 (household.csv), U.S. Census Bureau and HUD · Updated 2026-11-01

Orangeburg Pipe: The Fiber Sewer Line Under Postwar Homes

A 1944 federal standard, a plumbing code window that ran to 1982, and a fresh count of how often older homes on public sewers report a breakdown.

EPA UCMR 5 occurrence data (UCMR5_All.txt), final release · Updated 2026-11-02

PFAS Map: 1,127 Water Systems Averaged Above EPA's PFOA or PFOS Limit

A state-by-state count from EPA's own nationwide 2023 to 2025 sampling of every large water system and a representative set of small ones, with population served and the status of the federal rule.

Census Building Permits Survey state annual files 1980 to 1999; ACS 2025 1-year B25001 and B25034 · Updated 2026-11-01

Polybutylene Pipe: Where It Was Installed and How Much Housing Dates From the PB Years

A state atlas built from 1980 to 1995 Census permit files and the October 2026 ACS release, with the Cox and Spencer settlement terms and every published estimate side by side.

CDC Environmental Public Health Tracking Network, radon tests from labs (measure 866) and from state programs (measure 743) · Updated 2026-11-02

Radon Map: Test Results by State vs EPA's 1993 Zones

2,013,544 home radon tests reported to CDC, county by county, laid over the prediction EPA drew in 1993, with what each state requires when a home is sold or built.

ATSDR National Asbestos Exposure Review summary report (Table 1, Appendix A, Appendix B); ZAI Trust Summary of Claims · Updated 2026-11-02

Vermiculite Insulation: Where Libby Ore Went and What Homeowners Can Do

A state-by-state registry built from ATSDR's list of plants that heat-expanded asbestos-contaminated Libby, Montana ore, plus 12 years of Zonolite Attic Insulation Trust payouts and the rules that apply before an attic or ceiling is opened.

American Housing Survey 2023 National Public Use File v1.1 (U.S. Census Bureau and HUD) · Updated 2026-10-27

Water Damage Statistics: Household Leaks, Mold and Insurance Claims

Weighted estimates from the 2023 American Housing Survey on where leaks start and how often mold appears, set beside insurer claim data.

CPSC NEISS public files 2015 to 2025 (scald cases, case level) · Updated 2026-11-02

Water Heater Temperature: 120 vs 140 Degrees, Scalds and the Rules

Federal injury data, burn times and plumbing rules show why the tank and the tap need different numbers.

ENERGY STAR Certified Water Heaters (US EPA), with AHS 2023 and RECS 2020 microdata · Updated 2026-11-02

What Size Water Heater Do I Need? First-Hour Ratings vs Household Size

Federal ratings for every ENERGY STAR certified tank and tankless unit sold in the US, set against how many people live in American homes.

Federal Register, eCFR and court records compiled by KBR; USGS asbestos statistics; ACS B25034 · Updated 2026-10-27

When Was Asbestos Banned? Every Federal Action on Home Building Products

A dated registry of 29 federal actions, mapped to the floors, ceilings, walls and pipes in older kitchens and baths.

HUD American Healthy Homes Survey II (lead findings) applied to Census ACS 2024 1-year table B25036 · Updated 2026-10-27

When Was Lead Paint Banned? Lead Paint in US Homes by Year Built and State

The federal date, the odds by construction year from HUD's latest survey, a state-by-state model estimate, and what EPA's RRP rule means for kitchen and bath work.

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