PlainWater

National ranking · EPA UCMR5

PFAS Detection by State

How often PFAS “forever chemicals” turn up in drinking water systems sampled under EPA's fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR5), state by state.

34.4%
National detection rate
10,252
Systems tested
3,528
With PFAS detected

The verdict

Among states with at least 10 systems tested, New Jersey has the highest PFAS detection rate at 65.2% - against a 34.4% national rate across 10,252 UCMR5-tested systems.

65.2%
Detection rate, New Jersey
34.4%
National UCMR5 detection rate
3,528
Systems with PFAS detected
10,252
Systems tested nationwide

Highest PFAS detection rates (states with ≥10 systems tested)

Share of UCMR5-tested systems with at least one PFAS detection

% detected

What this shows New Jersey leads at 65.2%. A small tested base can inflate a state's rate, so this chart shows only states with 10 or more systems sampled.

Source EPA UCMR5 (Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule) As of Current EPA release

Full ranking, all states

# State Systems Tested PFAS Detected Detection Rate
1 District of Columbia 3 3 100%
2 American Samoa 1 1 100%
3 New Jersey 264 172 65.2%
4 Connecticut 63 40 63.5%
5 Guam 5 3 60%
6 South Carolina 164 90 54.9%
7 Massachusetts 263 143 54.4%
8 Texas 1,147 610 53.2%
9 Rhode Island 29 15 51.7%
10 Northern Mariana Islands 2 1 50%
11 EPA Region 1 — Tribal Water Systems 2 1 50%
12 North Carolina 287 143 49.8%
13 Delaware 35 17 48.6%
14 Florida 402 190 47.3%
15 Pennsylvania 389 173 44.5%
16 Minnesota 196 87 44.4%
17 Ohio 346 141 40.8%
18 Puerto Rico 99 38 38.4%
19 Alabama 306 117 38.2%
20 Kentucky 231 87 37.7%
21 Arizona 152 57 37.5%
22 Oklahoma 166 61 36.7%
23 Maryland 83 30 36.1%
24 New Hampshire 51 18 35.3%
25 California 694 231 33.3%
26 West Virginia 102 34 33.3%
27 US Virgin Islands 3 1 33.3%
28 Kansas 103 34 33%
29 Virginia 171 54 31.6%
30 Tennessee 277 87 31.4%
31 Missouri 230 71 30.9%
32 Georgia 254 77 30.3%
33 Alaska 30 9 30%
34 New York 332 98 29.5%
35 Washington 247 66 26.7%
36 Illinois 487 123 25.3%
37 Wisconsin 202 51 25.2%
38 Maine 41 10 24.4%
39 Indiana 229 55 24%
40 Colorado 163 37 22.7%
41 Iowa 152 32 21.1%
42 EPA Region 9 — Tribal Water Systems 41 8 19.5%
43 North Dakota 38 7 18.4%
44 Louisiana 265 47 17.7%
45 Nevada 57 10 17.5%
46 Navajo Nation 13 2 15.4%
47 Oregon 125 18 14.4%
48 South Dakota 49 7 14.3%
49 New Mexico 72 10 13.9%
50 Michigan 318 44 13.8%
51 Idaho 60 8 13.3%
52 Nebraska 53 7 13.2%
53 Utah 129 16 12.4%
54 Montana 45 5 11.1%
55 EPA Region 6 — Tribal Water Systems 18 2 11.1%
56 Wyoming 33 3 9.1%
57 Vermont 37 3 8.1%
58 EPA Region 8 — Tribal Water Systems 13 1 7.7%
59 EPA Region 5 — Tribal Water Systems 13 1 7.7%
60 Arkansas 172 10 5.8%
61 Hawaii 45 2 4.4%
62 Mississippi 238 9 3.8%
63 EPA Region 10 — Tribal Water Systems 10 0 0%
64 EPA Region 7 — Tribal Water Systems 1 0 0%
65 EPA Region 4 — Tribal Water Systems 2 0 0%
66 EPA Region 2 — Tribal Water Systems 2 0 0%

Every figure on PlainWater is rendered directly from EPA SDWIS drinking-water data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on EPA UCMR5 PFAS occurrence data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.