How long does a toilet last?
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) assigns Toilets/bidets/urinals 40 years in both Family and Elderly: a multifamily capital-planning life, not a measured life (Numbering by ASTM 2018-08 Outline, no issue date, read 2026-10-24, national, multifamily, n not published by the source).
Source: HUD CNA e-Tool EUL table, read 24 October 2026. Updated 2026-10-27
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In our own counts, n is the number of surveyed households behind a share and SE is its standard error, a measure of sampling error, in percentage points.
How long it lasts, by source
For property managers, landlords and HOA boards
- The fixture group spans more than toilets: HUD's printed row is “Toilets/bidets/urinals”. Both the Family column and the Elderly column give 40 years (Numbering by ASTM 2018-08 Outline, no issue date, read 2026-10-24, national, multifamily, n not published by the source). This is a standard for capital planning in multifamily properties, not a measured life of the toilet at an individual property.
- The “Flush valves” line provides a planning standard for a different component, not a measured life of the entire toilet. For these multifamily assessments, HUD assigns 10 years to Family and 15 years to Elderly (Numbering by ASTM 2018-08 Outline, no issue date, read 2026-10-24, national, multifamily, n not published by the source). The row label does not specify a type of flush valve.
HUD lists “Toilets/bidets/urinals” and “Flush valves” as separate entries in the plumbing need item “Fixtures” (Numbering by ASTM 2018-08 Outline, no issue date, read 2026-10-24, national, multifamily). Neither label names a flapper or a wax ring.
For an existing component, the HUD introduction distinguishes the table standard from remaining useful life: “The Standard EUL for a component type is fixed.” It then permits the user to estimate “the Remaining Useful Life of any existing component independent of the Standard EUL” and describes doing so “by justifying the assessed RUL in the adjacent comment box” (Numbering by ASTM 2018-08 Outline, no issue date, read 2026-10-24, national, multifamily).
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Sources for the figures on this page
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, CNA e-Tool Estimated Useful Life Table, read 24 October 2026. U.S. government work, public domain.