Toilet Repair in Massachusetts

Weighted across 1,694,632 occupied homes. Separately, 78% of the state’s 1,794,368 housing units — a wider universe, because it includes vacant ones — were built before 1990, which is before the Energy Policy Act of 1992 set a 1.6 gallon flush maximum.

Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, tables B25003 (tenure) and B25034 (year structure built), 2023 release. Flush volumes: US EPA WaterSense, tank-type toilet supporting statement.

A state average hides the thing that matters. Of the 175 towns we route in here, 103 are mostly pre-1990 housing and 0 are mostly post-1990 housing; on tenure, 76 are strongly owner-occupied and 29 are renter-heavy.

The two are close to independent of each other, so an old town is not reliably an owning town or a renting one. That is why every town page below carries its own pair of figures rather than inheriting these.

The fault list does not vary by state. A running tank is the flapper or the fill valve, and EPA publishes a ten-minute test that tells them apart. Water at the base is four different faults, one of which is condensation and not a leak at all. A fixture that rocks is the one that causes the seal failure you will meet later.

What varies by town is who fixes it. In a rented home the toilet is normally the landlord’s repair, and in the towns above that is a large share of households.

Checking a credential in Massachusetts

Massachusetts licenses are issued by the Massachusetts Board of State Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters, which publishes a public search you can use before work begins.

• Abington 74% owner-occupied · 73% pre-1990
• Acton 76% owner-occupied · 71% pre-1990
• Allston 13% owner-occupied · 80% pre-1990
• Andover 80% owner-occupied · 75% pre-1990
• Arlington 61% owner-occupied · 92% pre-1990
• Attleboro 66% owner-occupied · 75% pre-1990
• Attleboro Falls 69% owner-occupied · 50% pre-1990
• Auburndale 58% owner-occupied · 76% pre-1990
• Avon 79% owner-occupied · 87% pre-1990
• Bedford 71% owner-occupied · 59% pre-1990
• Bellingham 78% owner-occupied · 72% pre-1990
• Belmont 64% owner-occupied · 90% pre-1990
• Berkley 98% owner-occupied · 66% pre-1990
• Beverly 59% owner-occupied · 83% pre-1990
• Billerica 81% owner-occupied · 73% pre-1990
• Boston 25% owner-occupied · 73% pre-1990
• Boxborough 77% owner-occupied · 56% pre-1990
• Boxford 94% owner-occupied · 75% pre-1990
• Braintree 77% owner-occupied · 81% pre-1990
• Bridgewater 75% owner-occupied · 59% pre-1990
• Brighton 22% owner-occupied · 84% pre-1990
• Brookline 43% owner-occupied · 92% pre-1990
• Burlington 75% owner-occupied · 73% pre-1990
• Byfield 85% owner-occupied · 59% pre-1990
• Cambridge 34% owner-occupied · 77% pre-1990
• Canton 76% owner-occupied · 63% pre-1990
• Carlisle 94% owner-occupied · 84% pre-1990
• Carver 89% owner-occupied · 74% pre-1990
• Charlestown 50% owner-occupied · 80% pre-1990
• Chelmsford 83% owner-occupied · 84% pre-1990
• Chelsea 29% owner-occupied · 77% pre-1990
• Chestnut Hill 68% owner-occupied · 82% pre-1990
• Cohasset 83% owner-occupied · 76% pre-1990
• Concord 79% owner-occupied · 74% pre-1990
• Danvers 69% owner-occupied · 80% pre-1990
• Dedham 73% owner-occupied · 79% pre-1990
• Dorchester 34% owner-occupied · 82% pre-1990
• Dorchester Center 42% owner-occupied · 85% pre-1990
• Dover 97% owner-occupied · 72% pre-1990
• Dracut 80% owner-occupied · 74% pre-1990
• Duxbury 90% owner-occupied · 76% pre-1990
• East Boston 29% owner-occupied · 79% pre-1990
• East Bridgewater 83% owner-occupied · 64% pre-1990
• East Walpole 83% owner-occupied · 71% pre-1990
• East Weymouth 64% owner-occupied · 91% pre-1990
• Essex 77% owner-occupied · 68% pre-1990
• Everett 37% owner-occupied · 88% pre-1990
• Foxboro 73% owner-occupied · 69% pre-1990
• Franklin 78% owner-occupied · 58% pre-1990
• Georgetown 84% owner-occupied · 65% pre-1990
• Gloucester 63% owner-occupied · 84% pre-1990
• Groveland 92% owner-occupied · 60% pre-1990
• Halifax 96% owner-occupied · 66% pre-1990
• Hanover 87% owner-occupied · 72% pre-1990
• Hanson 90% owner-occupied · 67% pre-1990
• Haverhill 61% owner-occupied · 80% pre-1990
• Hingham 80% owner-occupied · 66% pre-1990
• Holbrook 83% owner-occupied · 95% pre-1990
• Hudson 75% owner-occupied · 74% pre-1990
• Hull 81% owner-occupied · 90% pre-1990
• Hyde Park 53% owner-occupied · 85% pre-1990
• Ipswich 73% owner-occupied · 76% pre-1990
• Jamaica Plain 46% owner-occupied · 84% pre-1990
• Kingston 84% owner-occupied · 68% pre-1990
• Lakeville 81% owner-occupied · 61% pre-1990
• Lawrence 30% owner-occupied · 87% pre-1990
• Lexington 81% owner-occupied · 73% pre-1990
• Lincoln 77% owner-occupied · 71% pre-1990
• Littleton 85% owner-occupied · 59% pre-1990
• Lowell 44% owner-occupied · 85% pre-1990
• Lynn 50% owner-occupied · 89% pre-1990
• Lynnfield 87% owner-occupied · 79% pre-1990
• Malden 42% owner-occupied · 81% pre-1990
• Manchester 70% owner-occupied · 78% pre-1990
• Mansfield 73% owner-occupied · 72% pre-1990
• Marblehead 83% owner-occupied · 93% pre-1990
• Marshfield 81% owner-occupied · 78% pre-1990
• Mattapan 42% owner-occupied · 82% pre-1990
• Maynard 77% owner-occupied · 82% pre-1990
• Medfield 86% owner-occupied · 74% pre-1990
• Medford 53% owner-occupied · 85% pre-1990
• Medway 87% owner-occupied · 73% pre-1990
• Melrose 68% owner-occupied · 89% pre-1990
• Methuen 73% owner-occupied · 78% pre-1990
• Middleboro 77% owner-occupied · 62% pre-1990
• Middleton 92% owner-occupied · 57% pre-1990
• Millis 84% owner-occupied · 80% pre-1990
• Milton 84% owner-occupied · 88% pre-1990
• Nahant 84% owner-occupied · 93% pre-1990
• Natick 67% owner-occupied · 77% pre-1990
• Needham 91% owner-occupied · 78% pre-1990
• Needham Heights 73% owner-occupied · 63% pre-1990
• Newbury 88% owner-occupied · 88% pre-1990
• Newburyport 76% owner-occupied · 84% pre-1990
• Newton 62% owner-occupied · 87% pre-1990
• Newton Center 83% owner-occupied · 87% pre-1990
• Newton Highlands 78% owner-occupied · 79% pre-1990
• Newton Lower Falls 76% owner-occupied · 90% pre-1990
• Newton Upper Falls 60% owner-occupied · 82% pre-1990
• Newtonville 59% owner-occupied · 90% pre-1990
• Norfolk 95% owner-occupied · 66% pre-1990
• North Andover 70% owner-occupied · 72% pre-1990
• North Attleboro 71% owner-occupied · 78% pre-1990
• North Billerica 71% owner-occupied · 62% pre-1990
• North Chelmsford 84% owner-occupied · 77% pre-1990
• North Dighton 85% owner-occupied · 71% pre-1990
• North Easton 75% owner-occupied · 71% pre-1990
• North Reading 84% owner-occupied · 73% pre-1990
• North Weymouth 83% owner-occupied · 94% pre-1990
• Norton 84% owner-occupied · 63% pre-1990
• Norwell 91% owner-occupied · 76% pre-1990
• Norwood 52% owner-occupied · 80% pre-1990
• Peabody 65% owner-occupied · 75% pre-1990
• Pembroke 89% owner-occupied · 70% pre-1990
• Plainville 64% owner-occupied · 67% pre-1990
• Plymouth 80% owner-occupied · 66% pre-1990
• Plympton 94% owner-occupied · 64% pre-1990
• Prides Crossing 94% owner-occupied · 97% pre-1990
• Quincy 45% owner-occupied · 79% pre-1990
• Randolph 70% owner-occupied · 86% pre-1990
• Raynham 77% owner-occupied · 57% pre-1990
• Reading 83% owner-occupied · 80% pre-1990
• Rehoboth 91% owner-occupied · 63% pre-1990
• Revere 50% owner-occupied · 80% pre-1990
• Rockland 78% owner-occupied · 82% pre-1990
• Rockport 69% owner-occupied · 88% pre-1990
• Roslindale 57% owner-occupied · 88% pre-1990
• Rowley 82% owner-occupied · 67% pre-1990
• Roxbury 25% owner-occupied · 72% pre-1990
• Roxbury Crossing 12% owner-occupied · 64% pre-1990
• Sagamore Beach 85% owner-occupied · 68% pre-1990
• Salem 51% owner-occupied · 86% pre-1990
• Saugus 74% owner-occupied · 87% pre-1990
• Scituate 88% owner-occupied · 78% pre-1990
• Sharon 87% owner-occupied · 77% pre-1990
• Sherborn 89% owner-occupied · 83% pre-1990
• Somerville 34% owner-occupied · 85% pre-1990
• South Boston 45% owner-occupied · 73% pre-1990
• South Easton 82% owner-occupied · 75% pre-1990
• South Hamilton 83% owner-occupied · 88% pre-1990
• South Walpole 95% owner-occupied · 89% pre-1990
• South Weymouth 70% owner-occupied · 71% pre-1990
• Stoneham 71% owner-occupied · 81% pre-1990
• Stoughton 77% owner-occupied · 82% pre-1990
• Stow 86% owner-occupied · 69% pre-1990
• Sudbury 90% owner-occupied · 66% pre-1990
• Swampscott 74% owner-occupied · 87% pre-1990
• Swansea 87% owner-occupied · 77% pre-1990
• Taunton 60% owner-occupied · 81% pre-1990
• Tewksbury 85% owner-occupied · 69% pre-1990
• Topsfield 90% owner-occupied · 74% pre-1990
• Tyngsboro 86% owner-occupied · 57% pre-1990
• Waban 98% owner-occupied · 85% pre-1990
• Wakefield 71% owner-occupied · 79% pre-1990
• Walpole 82% owner-occupied · 68% pre-1990
• Waltham 49% owner-occupied · 79% pre-1990
• Watertown 49% owner-occupied · 85% pre-1990
• Wayland 90% owner-occupied · 76% pre-1990
• Wellesley 80% owner-occupied · 73% pre-1990
• Wellesley Hills 87% owner-occupied · 80% pre-1990
• Wenham 86% owner-occupied · 81% pre-1990
• West Bridgewater 84% owner-occupied · 76% pre-1990
• West Newbury 95% owner-occupied · 66% pre-1990
• West Newton 68% owner-occupied · 92% pre-1990
• West Roxbury 71% owner-occupied · 90% pre-1990
• Westford 88% owner-occupied · 60% pre-1990
• Weston 90% owner-occupied · 74% pre-1990
• Westwood 87% owner-occupied · 72% pre-1990
• Weymouth 61% owner-occupied · 83% pre-1990
• Whitman 73% owner-occupied · 78% pre-1990
• Wilmington 87% owner-occupied · 61% pre-1990
• Winchester 83% owner-occupied · 84% pre-1990
• Winthrop 56% owner-occupied · 91% pre-1990
• Woburn 58% owner-occupied · 75% pre-1990
• Wrentham 85% owner-occupied · 64% pre-1990