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

Lead pipes map: Illinois leads on both the count and the per-resident rate

Illinois has 631,642 projected lead and galvanized-requiring-replacement service lines in EPA's 2025 update, 49.7 for every 1,000 residents, against a 50-state plus DC rate of 11.6.

Lead service line (LSL): The pipe that carries water from the main under the street into a building, when any part of it is lead. EPA says these lines were installed mainly from the late 1800s through the 1940s.

Galvanized requiring replacement (GRR): A galvanized steel service line that is or was downstream of lead. Lead can stick to the inside of galvanized pipe, so EPA counts these as lead service lines for replacement and funding.

EPA's 2025 Updated Service Line Projections put Illinois at 631,642 projected lead and GRR lines, Ohio at 406,565, New York at 383,390, Michigan at 294,388 and Pennsylvania at 264,961. Those counts come from the inventories utilities filed under the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions, with each state's unknown-material lines split into lead and non-lead using that state's known ratio.

Dividing each state's projection by its July 1, 2025 Census Bureau population estimate changes the order below the top. Indiana (37.6 per 1,000 residents) and Rhode Island (35.0) rank second and third per resident, ahead of New York, which has the third-largest raw count. The median state is 6.6 per 1,000. Only 17 of 51 jurisdictions are above the 11.6 national rate.

Western states sit near zero: EPA projects 4 lines in Alaska and 60 in Oregon. Mineral content is a separate question from pipe material; for that, see the hard water map of the 50 largest US cities.

Five states hold half of the projected lead service lines

Illinois, Ohio, New York, Michigan and Pennsylvania together hold 1,980,946 projected lead and GRR lines, 50.1 percent of the national 3,956,383.

The concentration is sharper than in the survey years. In 16 jurisdictions, projected lead and GRR lines are 5 percent or more of all service lines; Illinois is highest at a 10-year replacement pace of 16.5 lines per 1,000 service lines a year (t1, last column).

The Lead and Copper Rule Improvements let a system seek a deferred deadline only if it would have to replace more than 39 service lines per 1,000 connections a year. No state average comes close to that line, which means a deferral question is decided city by city, not state by state.

Why EPA's count fell from 9.2 million to 4.0 million

EPA's estimate dropped 56.2 percent between the 2023 survey update and the 2025 inventory update. The drop reflects a change of method and corrected state data, not 5 million pipes dug up.

The 7th DWINSA Report to Congress projected 9,223,745 lead lines from a 2021 questionnaire sent to a statistical sample of systems. A 2023 update lowered that to 9,031,938; 67 percent of surveyed systems answered the update, which lifted combined response to 78 percent, according to EPA's May 2024 fact sheet.

On October 21, 2024, the EPA Office of Inspector General reported that the questionnaire lacked data-quality controls. It found $343.73 million of questionable FY2023 allotments to the two states it reviewed: a Texas data entry error made EPA project about 95 percent more lines than accurate data would, and Florida's method inflated counts for at least 8 systems.

EPA's January 17, 2025 memorandum then moved funding to the inventories utilities had to file by October 16, 2024. In the November 2025 fact sheet EPA describes the new total as about 3 million reported lead lines plus about 1 million unknown-material lines predicted to be lead.

The 10-year replacement clock starts on November 1, 2027

The LCRI was published October 30, 2024, took effect December 30, 2024 and has a compliance date of November 1, 2027. Most systems then have 10 years, which points to November 1, 2037.

The final rule (89 FR 86418) requires full replacement of lead and GRR lines under a system's control within 10 years of the compliance date, at a cumulative average of 10 percent a year. It also lowers the lead action level from 0.015 to 0.010 mg/L and requires inventories to be public.

Clearing EPA's 2025 projection in 10 years would take about 395,638 replacements a year nationally, or 1,084 a day. Illinois alone would need 63,164 a year. At the 7th DWINSA's 2021 unit costs of $5,328 to $9,015 per line, the 2025 projection implies roughly $21.1 billion to $35.7 billion of work, well under the $50 billion to $80 billion EPA estimated for the 9.2 million-line count.

Status check: the Spring 2025 Unified Agenda lists the LCRI as a completed action, and a Federal Register search run on October 27, 2026 found no rule or proposed rule published since January 1, 2025 that changes LCRI dates.

In FY2026, 33 jurisdictions got the 1 percent minimum: a third of the money for a tenth of the lines

The 33 states (counting DC and Puerto Rico) at the FY2026 floor of $27,456,000 received 33.5 percent of state lead service line money while holding 9.8 percent of projected lead lines.

Congress gave the DWSRF $15 billion for lead service line replacement in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. After a $125 million cut in FY2026 (EPA FY2026 memo), appropriations total $14.875 billion. By statute every state gets at least 1 percent of funds available to states, and 49 percent of the money must go out as additional subsidy to disadvantaged communities.

Above the floor, FY2026 grants work out to about $504 per projected line (Illinois $468). At the floor, the per-line figure explodes: Alaska's $27,456,000 covers 4 projected lines, or $6,864,000 each. In 9 jurisdictions the FY2026 grant alone exceeds the $9,015 high-end replacement cost for every projected line.

Allotments track whichever estimate was current. Florida received $254,788,000 in FY2023 and $228,679,000 in FY2024, a combined $483,467,000, while survey-based counts were high (1,014,952 in the 2023 update); the 2025 projection is 51,707. Summing original FY2022 to FY2026 allotments gives Florida $12,802 per projected line against Illinois' $1,873.

Money also moved after allotment. The December 3, 2025 reallotment memo shows 9 states declined $231,532,000 of FY2023 funds and 14 states declined $420,405,000 of FY2024 funds, $651,937,000 in all, while EPA de-obligated $226,138,000 from Florida and $88,291,000 from Texas for FY2023.

What a state lead pipe count can and cannot tell a kitchen or bath remodeler

A state total says how common lead lines are nearby. It cannot say whether one house has one. The utility's public inventory and its annual notice letters are the house-level records.

• Can learn: whether your state is one where lead lines are common (t1), and the federal schedule your utility works to (t5).
• Cannot learn: the material of your own line. Under the LCRR, systems with lead, GRR or unknown lines must mail or hand-deliver a notice to each affected connection every year in 2025 and 2026 (EPA Region 8 briefing), and the LCRI requires the inventory itself to be public.
• Inside the house: since January 4, 2014, new pipes, fittings and fixtures must meet a 0.25 percent weighted-average lead limit (85 FR 54235). Older faucets and lead solder are a separate source from the service line (EPA).
• During a remodel: if a property owner replaces the customer-owned side, the LCRI requires the system to replace its portion within 45 days, or within 180 days after notifying the state (89 FR 86418).

A kitchen or bath project that opens walls or trenches the yard is the time to ask the utility about the service line, because street-side work and plumbing permits often run on different calendars. Our kitchen remodel timeline shows where permitting falls, and the contractor directory lists local firms. Lead paint is a different rule set; see when lead paint was banned.

State-by-state findings

1. EPA projects 3,956,383 lead and galvanized-requiring-replacement service lines in the US in its 2025 update (data file September 2025).^[2][3]
2. About 3 million of those are reported lead lines and about 1 million are unknown-material lines EPA predicts to be lead (November 2025).^[3]
3. Illinois has the most projected lead lines, 631,642, followed by Ohio (406,565) and New York (383,390), 2025 update.^[2]
4. Illinois has 49.7 projected lead lines per 1,000 residents, against 11.6 for the 50 states plus DC (KBR calculation, 2025 data).^[2][25]
5. Five states (IL, OH, NY, MI, PA) hold 50.1 percent of projected US lead lines (2025 update).^[2]
6. EPA's national estimate fell 56.2 percent, from 9,031,938 in the 2023 survey update to 3,956,383 in the 2025 inventory update.^[7][2]
7. Florida's projection fell 94.9 percent between the two updates; Texas' rose 479.6 percent.^[5][2]
8. EPA's Inspector General found $343.73 million of questionable FY2023 lead line allotments to Texas and Florida (October 21, 2024).^[17]
9. The LCRI compliance date is November 1, 2027, and most systems must finish replacement within 10 years of it (89 FR 86418).^[18]
10. Meeting the deadline nationally implies about 395,638 replacements a year (KBR calculation from EPA's 2025 projection).^[2][18]
11. In FY2026, 33 jurisdictions at the 1 percent floor received 33.5 percent of state lead line funds but hold 9.8 percent of projected lines.^[10][2]
12. States declined $651,937,000 of FY2023 and FY2024 lead service line replacement funds (EPA memo, December 3, 2025).^[15]
13. Congress cut FY2026 lead service line replacement funding by $125 million, to $2.875 billion (EPA memo, May 20, 2026).^[9]

Rankings and ratios we derived

Download the calculations (CSV)

Executive summary

• EPA's 2025 inventory-based update projects 3,956,383 lead and GRR service lines, about 4.0 million.
• The estimate is 56.2 percent below the 9,031,938 of the 2023 survey update because the method and data changed, not because lines were removed.
• Illinois leads on count (631,642) and per resident (49.7 per 1,000); the 50-state plus DC rate is 11.6.
• Five states hold 50.1 percent of projected lines.
• The LCRI compliance date is November 1, 2027; a 10-year replacement period points to November 1, 2037.
• That schedule implies about 395,638 replacements a year nationally.
• Signature finding: 33 jurisdictions at the 1 percent funding floor took 33.5 percent of FY2026 state money for 9.8 percent of the lines.
• A state count cannot tell a homeowner what their own line is made of; the utility's public inventory can.

Frequently asked questions

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Reproduce this analysis

Every figure comes from the files below. The scripts that pulled and computed them are kept with the report and can be re-run.

Data quality and exclusions

• Allotment parsing: each year's 52 parsed state amounts were summed and matched the table total to the dollar (FY2022 $2,792,475,000; FY2023 to FY2025 $2,822,025,000 each after removing Other Areas; FY2026 $2,704,441,000).
• Territories: 4 territories (329 projected lines, all in the Virgin Islands) were dropped from state tables and kept in the national total.
• The 2025 file's projected unknown column is 0 for every state because EPA had already apportioned unknowns; reported unknown counts were taken from the 2023-update table instead (23,819,901) and from EPIC's inventory tally (23,521,065) as a cross-check.
• 2023-update projections carry decimals; they were rounded to whole lines only for display.
• Puerto Rico was excluded from the tile map and the 50-state plus DC rate (it is not in the Census US total) but kept in tables.
• The FY2026 memo text says '$2.875 million'; the allotment table shows $2,875,000,000, which is used here.

Methodology

Source selection: state lead service line counts come only from EPA's 7th DWINSA publications and data files: the September 2023 Report to Congress, the 2024 state table from the 2023 update, and the September 2025 Updated Service Line Projections built from Lead and Copper Rule Revisions inventories. Rule dates come only from Federal Register documents. Funding comes from EPA allotment and reallotment memoranda. Population is the Census Bureau Vintage 2025 state file (July 1, 2025).

Inclusion: the 50 states, DC and Puerto Rico; the four territories are excluded from state tables but included in EPA's national total of 3,956,383. Tribal systems are outside the state projections.

Conflicts: where the 2023 survey figures and the 2025 inventory projection differ, this report uses the 2025 projection as EPA's current estimate and shows the older numbers only as history. EPA's FY2026 allotments used inventory data as of 2025 Q4, slightly newer than the September 2025 file; the per-line figures therefore mix the two and are labelled.

Derived metrics: per-1,000 rates divide projected lead plus GRR lines by July 1, 2025 population; shares divide by the national total; the 10-year pace divides by 10; funding per line divides original allotments by the 2025 projection. Every formula is in derived_metrics.csv and reproducible with scripts/build_data.py and scripts/build_report.py.

Limitations: DWINSA counts are estimates, not verified pipe-by-pipe counts, and about 1 million of the 2025 total is a statistical prediction from unknown-material lines. Allotments are not spending.

Last updated 2026-10-27.

This report presents published data with its limitations. It is not legal, financial or investment advice.

Sources, ranked by quality

Tier 1: primary and official sources (33)

• [1] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. EPA's 7th Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment (web page, last updated May 20, 2026). 2021 to 2025 data; page updated 2026-05-20. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [2] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2025 Updated Service Line Projections, 7th DWINSA (xlsx, September 2025). LCRR inventories reported to EPA in 2025. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [3] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Fact Sheet: 2025 Update to the 7th DWINSA (November 2025). 2025. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [4] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Memorandum: 2025 Update to the 7th DWINSA and Approach for FY 2025 and FY 2026 IIJA LSLR Allotments (January 17, 2025). 2025. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [5] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2024 Updated 7th DWINSA State Level Service Lines (xlsx, May 2024). Data collected September to December 2023. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [6] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Fact Sheet: Updated 7th Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment (May 2024). 2023 update. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [7] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2023 Update to the 7th DWINSA Lead Service Line Information: Addendum to the Report to Congress. 2023 update. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [8] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment: 7th Report to Congress. 2021 survey; costs in 2021 dollars. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [9] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Fiscal Year 2026 Lead Service Line Replacement Allotments for the DWSRF Provisions of the IIJA (memorandum, May 20, 2026). FY2026. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [10] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. FY 2026 LSLR Allotment Table (May 2026). FY2026. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [11] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. FY 2025 LSLR Allotment Table (November 2025). FY2025. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [12] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Fiscal Year 2024 Lead Service Line Allotments for the DWSRF Provisions of the BIL. FY2024. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [13] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. FY 2023 Allotments for the DWSRF based on the Seventh DWINSA (memorandum and attachments, April 2023). FY2023. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [14] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2022 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law SRF Implementation Memorandum, Appendix A allotments (March 2022). FY2022. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [15] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Reallotment of FY 2023 and 2024 IIJA Lead Service Line Replacement DWSRF Funds (memorandum, December 3, 2025). FY2023 to FY2024. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [16] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Reallotment of FY 2022 IIJA Lead Service Line Replacement DWSRF Funds (memorandum, May 19, 2026). FY2022. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [17] EPA Office of Inspector General. Inadequate Execution of the 7th DWINSA Lead Service Line Questionnaire Led to Flawed Data Being Used to Allot Lead Service Line Replacement Funds, Report No. 25-E-0002 (October 21, 2024). FY2023 allotments. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [18] Federal Register (EPA). National Primary Drinking Water Regulations for Lead and Copper: Improvements (LCRI), final rule, 89 FR 86418 (October 30, 2024). Rule published 2024-10-30. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [19] Federal Register (EPA). National Primary Drinking Water Regulations: Lead and Copper Rule Revisions, 86 FR 4198 (January 15, 2021). Rule published 2021-01-15. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [20] Federal Register (EPA). Lead and Copper Rule Revisions; Delay of Effective and Compliance Dates, 86 FR 31939 (June 16, 2021). Rule published 2021-06-16. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [21] Federal Register (EPA). Use of Lead Free Pipes, Fittings, Fixtures, Solder, and Flux for Drinking Water, 85 FR 54235 (September 1, 2020). Rule published 2020-09-01. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [22] Federal Register (EPA). Spring 2025 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions, 90 FR 45562 (September 22, 2025). Spring 2025 agenda. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [23] Federal Register (EPA). Proposed Information Collection Request: The 8th Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment, 89 FR 101008 (December 13, 2024). 2024 notice. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [24] Federal Register. Federal Register document search: EPA documents mentioning LCRI published 2025-01-01 to 2026-10-27 (API query). Searched 2026-10-27. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [25] U.S. Census Bureau. Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for the United States, Regions, States, DC and Puerto Rico, Vintage 2025 (NST-EST2025-ALLDATA). July 1, 2025 estimates. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [26] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Basic Information about Lead in Drinking Water. Current page. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [27] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Getting Started with Lead Service Line Identification and Replacement. Current page. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [28] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Consumer Tool for Identifying Point-of-Use and Pitcher Filters Certified to Reduce Lead in Drinking Water (EPA/600/F-24/143, June 6, 2024). 2024. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [29] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Protect Your Tap: A Quick Check for Lead. Current page. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [30] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Lead Service Lines (program page, last updated March 10, 2026). Current page. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [31] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (program page, last updated December 29, 2025). Current page. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [32] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (Region 8 and Wyoming DEQ presentation). Lead Service Line Inventory: Recommendations and LCRI Next Steps, 2025 EPA and DEQ Virtual Rule Roundup (November 2025). 2025. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [33] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Annual Allotment of Federal Funds to States, Tribes, and Territories (DWSRF page, last updated September 8, 2026). FY2022 to FY2026. Accessed 2026-10-27.

Tier 2: trade bodies, market research, company data (2)

• [34] Environmental Policy Innovation Center. What Best Available Data Tells Us About Lead Service Lines (January 2026). LCRR inventory data, 2025. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [35] Environmental Defense Fund. Where are the lead service lines? (October 8, 2018). 2018. Accessed 2026-10-27.

Tier 3: journalism and expert commentary (1)

• [36] Mapscaping. US Lead Service Lines Map: Find Lead Pipes by State (May 12, 2026). 2026. Accessed 2026-10-27.