Which State Has the Best Tap Water in the U.S.?

Every one of the 50 U.S. states has some unique claim to fame. It could be the biggest state, the oldest state, the Golden State, or the state with the most sunny days. What we want to know, though, is how good each state’s tap water is.  

We decided to do some research so we could finally answer the question of which state has the best tap water in the U.S. — and which has the worst. 

Where Is the Best Tap Water in the U.S.? 

When determining the rankings for our list, we had some choices to make. There are a lot of ways to rank water quality. We could rank them by: 

• The number of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) violations 
• How many taste tests a state has won 
• How well a state maintains its precious aquifers, lakes, rivers, and streams that feed their drinking water systems 
• The severity of any violations or the time it takes to remedy them 
• How equitable the systems are to low income residents 
• The health and condition of the water system itself 
• How contaminated the tap water is 

Ultimately, we decided to go with a mix of these characteristics. Admittedly, this makes it a little subjective, but we think looking at a variety of factors will give you more valuable insight than if we chose just one metric.  

Without further ado, let’s get into the top 10 states in the United States with the best drinking water.  

States with The Best Tap Water

1. Rhode Island  

Rhode Island is tiny. It’s just over half the size of the second smallest state — Delaware. If that doesn’t impress you, consider that you could fit Rhode Island inside the borders of Alaska 425 times.  

Meanwhile, with over 1 million Americans calling the state home, Rhode Island is the second most densely populated state in the country. So it’s a really good thing that it comes up as No. 1 in clean water on our list of states with the best tap water in the U.S.  

In 2021, Rhode Island had 83 water violations, according to the EPA. This makes up just 0.2% of the total violations in the country.   

2. South Dakota  

South Dakota’s state bird is the Chinese ring-necked pheasant, its state fossil is the triceratops, and it’s the home of Mount Rushmore. Also, only about 10 people per square mile live in the state. This low population density helps South Dakota keep its environment pristine. Since great tap water starts with a high-quality water supply, South Dakota comes in at No. 2 for best tap water in the U.S.  

3. Minnesota 

Minnesota is nicknamed the land of 10,000 lakes. It counts Lake Superior as part of its shores, and the state is the starting point for the mighty Mississippi River. So it’s expected that it’s going to take its water conservation efforts seriously — and it does.  

The Minnesota Department of Health manages lakes, rivers, and groundwater sources through grants for water protection activities, enforcement of safe drinking water standards, and community outreach. With so many clean local water sources and a strong commitment to keeping it that way, Minnesota comes in at No. 3 on the list of best tap water in the U.S.  

4. New York 

New York City water has long been speculated to be the secret behind its famous pizza and bagels. What you may not know is the water that supplies half the state's residents is the largest water system in the U.S. that doesn’t require filtration.  

With 1.2 billion gallons of water being pumped out of the Catskill/Delaware Water Supply System daily, New York spends billions of dollars on programs to protect its precious water resources. It even recently spent millions to turn an old bowling alley into wetlands so New Yorkers can enjoy great-tasting water.   

5. Vermont

The Green Mountain State supposedly has a monster named Champ living in a lake, and it's the home of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. What more could you want? How about a 97% satisfaction rate with the public water systems? 

Vermont does have some work to do, though. While the satisfaction rating might be very high, the largest source of the state’s water has a radium content that’s 22 times higher than Environmental Working Group (EWG) health guidelines. It’s nothing a reverse osmosis filter in your home can’t take care of, though. 

6. Kansas

Kansas — the geographic center of the United States — is known as the Wheat State. It takes its agriculture seriously, and that means it needs lots of clean water. 

Kansas has strict water usage laws to protect this vital resource. 

7. Missouri

The state that invented the ice cream cone and parachuting out of planes also has some clean drinking water. The town of Independence, Missouri, has some of the best-tasting tap water in the United States, according to Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting. Independence ends up in the top five almost every year. 

Missouri also makes up fewer than 1% of the total water violations that occur across the country.

8. Oregon

Oregon is home to Crater Lake, which is the deepest lake in the United States. But its biggest water prize might just be the Bull Run Watershed that supplies Portland with some of the cleanest water in the country. The source water is clean enough that it isn’t currently filtered. 

Maybe it should be filtering out that arsenic, though — it was measured at 105 times the Environmental Working Group’s recommended guidelines for good health. 

9. New Jersey

The Garden State is the most densely populated state in the nation. It’s also the largest industrial and chemical-producing state, so it’s a good thing it enacts strict water standards against PFAS and other toxic chemical contamination. Frequent water testing and low legal limits on water contaminants help a state that could be a public health disaster rank near the top of the list for best tap water in the U.S. 

10. Massachusetts

Massachusetts is the birthplace of four U.S. presidents. It’s where the fuse of the American Revolution was lit. And it’s where the first Thanksgiving took place in 1621. 

But how’s the water in Massachusetts? Pretty good, actually. With some of the strictest water laws in the country, the state that once intentionally littered its canals with tea during the Boston Tea Party has cleaned up well enough to round out our top 10 list of states with the best tap water in the U.S. 

What States Have the Worst Tap Water in the U.S.?

All of the above states have done an exceptional job managing their water resources, and we can’t wait to see how they get even better in the years to come. We’re not just looking at the best states, though. We also want to know which states have the most room to improve. 

Let’s look at the bottom ten states with poor water quality. 

41. New Hampshire

The “Live free or die” state mostly just lives free of water bills. Only half of the state’s residents have access to a public water supply at home. The rest dig wells, which are unregulated and prone to contamination from arsenic and radon, amongst other potential poisons. What New Hampshire does regulate, though, it does a good job of. It even tests for dangerous PFAS, which has been deemed voluntary by the federal government. 

42. Connecticut

The name Connecticut comes from the Mohegan word Quinnehtukqut, meaning "long river place" or "beside the long tidal river." Don’t let that fool you, though. While the fifth state to join the union has some of the strictest laws to protect its watershed, enforcement has been lax and the state’s water quality is suffering because of it. 

The Environmental Working Group shows 22 total contaminants with 12 exceeding health guidelines in the state’s largest municipality. 

43. Texas 

Texas is the largest oil and cattle producer in the country. Both of these industries can spell bad news for contaminant levels in your tap water. Houston, which is the fourth largest city in the U.S. by population, has 49 different measured contaminants in its water supply. The concentrations of arsenic, chloroform, chromium-6, radium, and other carcinogens may make you want to reach for filtered water instead. 

44. Florida

Widely known as the home of Disney World, Florida also holds a good amount of swampland. In fact, the Magic Kingdom was built on 27,000-plus acres of marsh. 

The high water table and runoff problems from frequent rain storms have made Florida the U.S. leader in lake pollution. Algae blooms and hurricanes often disrupt the state’s ecosystem, all while it continues to be one of the fastest growing states in terms of population. It’s not hard to see why water suppliers are fighting an uphill battle and why Florida is in the ranks of the worst tap water in the U.S. 

45. Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania is a story of steelmaking and coal mining. While these industries aren’t what they once were for the state, their remnants continue to pollute. A recent study shows 20,000 miles of rivers and streams in the state don’t meet the standards of the Clean Water Act for swimming and fishing. There are also 200,000 abandoned gas and oil wells, causing groundwater contamination. 

The Quaker State has come a long way in cleaning up the damage done by past generations but not enough yet to be removed from consideration for the worst tap water in the U.S. 

46. Georgia

Georgia has made a splash in recent years in U.S. politics, but it has also made a splash in its rivers, literally dumping 5 million pounds of toxic chemicals in them in 2020 alone. 

Its tap water also has a problem with disinfection byproducts like HAA9. According to the Environmental Working Group, levels of the nine carcinogenic chemicals that make up HAA9 are over 900 times higher than the recommended threshold for good health. Georgia definitely ranks in the bottom 10 for worst tap water in the U.S.

47. Ohio

Ohio was once the poster child for pollution. In 1970, the EPA was established, the first Earth Day took place in the U.S, and Time magazine ran a story about an Ohio river catching on fire. To be fair, the Cuyahoga River had been catching on fire since 1868, but now people cared and that meant change had to come.

The pollution found in this state helped mobilize people to demand the passage of the Clean Water Act, which has transformed U.S. waterways over the past 50 years. Then two years later, the government passed the Safe Drinking Water Act, which holds all U.S. drinking water suppliers to a certain set of standards, while requiring each municipality to put out an annual standardized Water Quality Report. 

How is the state doing today?

Ohio is still an industrial center, and that hurts its tap water quality. Ohio is also plagued with old pipes which carry dangerous lead into residents’ homes. There is no safe concentration level of lead in your blood. 

If you live in Ohio and have small children, you might consider installing an undersink water filter. 

48. California

The Golden State is the largest agricultural state in the country by far. With that title comes high usage of pesticides and fertilizers, which ultimately find their way into rural water supplies. Drinking water problems in California have been compared to those of Flint, Michigan, by the Los Angeles Times. 

A look at the Environmental Working Group’s report on Sacramento shows an alarming amount of arsenic, nitrates, radioactive materials, disinfection byproducts like total trihalomethanes, PFAS, and chromium-6. These levels put California in serious contention for the worst tap water in the U.S. 

49. Arizona 

Nobody pictures a water paradise when they think about a state that’s made up of four different deserts — and Arizona for sure isn’t one. Cities like Tempe have some of the highest levels of cancer-causing arsenic, chromium-6, and PFAS in the country. 

If you live in Arizona, staying hydrated is very important, and that makes the contaminated tap water that much harder to deal with. 

50. Michigan 

Many Americans never considered that anything could be seriously wrong with their water until they heard about the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, in 2014. The levels of lead and bacteria in the water were so high that people were dying from water coming out of their home faucets. 

While Michigan has improved since then, it still has a lot of work to do to upgrade its drinking water systems. This is especially true in low income areas of the state like Flint and Detroit, where old pipes are still a widespread public health concern. 

Recently, Flint has been in the news again as low chlorine levels have caused mold to grow on residents’ faucets and lead levels have been creeping up. The good news is that Detroit recently earmarked $100 million to replace lead service lines over the next three years. Hopefully soon we’ll be able to take Michigan off the list of states with the worst tap water in the U.S.

You Can Have Great-Tasting Water No Matter Where You Live

Whether your state has the best tap water in the U.S. or the worst drinking water, every state has room for improvement. 

If you want the best-tasting, cleanest water possible, check out HomeWater’s complete line of American-made water filtration systems. Our easy-to-install 4-stage under counter filters with reverse osmosis catch and remove contaminants like lead, fluoride, chlorine, PFAS, and more. 

Or if you want a more complete option, our 4-stage whole house system will send high-quality filtered water to every faucet, showerhead, and water-using appliance in your home – no matter which state you live in.