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Does flushing the toilet increase the water bill?

My water bill was unexpectedly higher this month—not by much, but enough to notice. Does flushing the toilet increase the water bill?

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Melanie Mergen · Updated on
Reviewed by Shannon Martin, Licensed Insurance Agent.
It’s possible that flushing the toilet could increase your water bill—and flushing toilets is one of the largest portions of the average household’s water usage. (Nearly a third, according to the EPA!)
You might have to be flushing the toilet a lot more to see a noticeable increase in your water bill, but it ultimately depends on how much water your toilet uses each time you flush and how much your local municipality charges for water utilities.
Older toilets often use more water per flush than newer ones. Older toilets commonly use about 3.5 gallons to as much as 6 gallons of water per flush, while newer ones, due to legal mandates, should use no more than 1.6 gallons per flush.
If you’re the only person living in your home, flushing the toilet might amount to just several extra dollars each month, but that will increase as the number of people in your household does, and it might not be out of the question for some households to end up spending hundreds of dollars per year—just on flushing toilets!
On a related note, whether you own or rent your current home, having a lackluster insurance policy can feel a lot like flushing your hard-earned money down the toilet. Luckily, the
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Jerry partners with more than 50 insurance companies, but our content is independently researched, written, and fact-checked by our team of editors and agents. We aren’t paid for reviews or other content.

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