Table 1.

Prevalence of Tap Water and Bottled Water Safety Perceptions According to Characteristics of U.S. Adult Survey Respondents Aged ≥18 years Participating in the SummerStyles Survey, 2018.

		Tap Water Perception “My Local Tap Water at Home is Safe to Drink”				Bottled Water Perception “Bottled Water is Safer than Tap water”				Tap water Taste Perception “My Local Tap Water Tastes Good”
Characteristic	All %a	Disagree %a	Neutral %a	Agree %a	P valueb	Disagree %a	Neutral %a	Agree %a	P valueb	Disagree %a	Neutral %a	Agree %a	P valueb
Total (N = 4041)c	100	15.1	20.4	64.5		21.8	39.2	39.0		25.9	23.2	50.9
Age (years)					<.0001				<.0001				<.0001
18-34	29.6	17.4	25.3	57.3		17.7	37.9	44.4		29.5	29.0	41.6
35-54	33.5	17.4	20.5	62.1		22.4	38.1	39.5		27.6	22.1	50.3
≥55	36.9	11.3	16.3	72.4		24.5	41.2	34.3		21.4	19.6	59.0
Sex					.03				.96				.0003
Male	48.2	13.3	20.3	66.4		21.6	39.2	39.3		22.4	24.6	53.0
Female	51.8	16.9	20.5	62.7		21.9	39.2	38.8		29.0	22.0	49.0
Race/ethnicity					<.0001				<.0001				<.0001
NH White	64.2	12.5	16.9	70.6		25.1	40.2	34.7		23.6	18.9	57.5
NH Black	11.9	17.5	30.6	51.9		12.6	37.3	50.1		29.1	33.1	37.8
Hispanic	15.7	22.4	23.6	54.1		15.3	35.5	49.2		31.5	27.2	41.2
NH Otherd	8.2	18.4	26.8	54.8		21.1	41.2	37.7		28.3	34.9	36.8
Education level					<.0001				<.0001				<.0001
<High school	11.1	20.7	34.1	45.2		13.7	42.4	43.9		30.9	28.4	40.7
High school	29.1	17.4	23.2	59.4		18.6	39.1	42.3		29.2	24.5	46.3
Some college	28.3	14.7	20.2	65.1		18.4	41.1	40.4		27.0	23.1	49.9
College graduate	31.5	11.5	13.2	75.3		30.5	36.4	33.1		20.0	20.3	59.7
Annual household income					<.0001				<.0001				<.0001
≤$35,000	23.0	20.6	26.7	52.7		17.3	36.4	46.3		31.9	26.8	41.3
$35,000–$74,999	29.0	15.0	24.6	60.4		19.8	39.5	40.7		29.2	24.0	46.8
$75,000–$99,999	14.6	17.4	13.4	69.2		22.4	38.2	39.4		25.8	20.8	53.5
≥$100,000	33.5	10.5	15.5	74.0		26.2	41.3	32.5		18.8	21.1	60.0
Marital status					<.0001				<.0001				.0001
Married/domestic partnership	62.1	14.2	17.5	68.3		24.5	38.5	36.9		25.0	21.1	54.0
Not married	37.9	16.7	25.1	58.2		17.2	40.3	42.5		27.3	26.7	45.9
Weight statuse (n = 3965)					.09				.04				.14
Underweight/healthy weight	33.7	13.9	20.0	66.4		22.9	40.4	36.7		24.6	23.1	52.3
Overweight	32.9	13.6	20.0	66.4		23.2	39.4	37.4		24.0	23.0	53.0
Obesity	33.4	17.5	20.8	61.6		19.7	37.6	42.7		28.5	23.1	48.3
Census regions of residence					.001				.01				<.0001
Northeast	17.9	13.9	22.8	63.3		21.7	39.0	39.2		21.6	25.7	52.7
Midwest	20.9	11.7	16.8	71.5		24.9	42.4	32.8		19.6	21.7	58.8
South	37.8	15.6	22.2	62.2		19.9	38.5	41.6		26.7	24.2	49.1
West	23.4	18.4	18.9	62.7		22.1	37.6	40.3		33.4	21.1	45.5
Home ownership status					<.0001				<.0001				<.0001
Rent	29.5	21.5	26.9	51.6		16.6	37.0	46.4		33.9	28.5	37.5
Owned	70.5	12.5	17.6	69.9		23.9	40.1	35.9		22.5	21.0	56.5
My local tap water at home is safe to drink									<.0001				<.0001
Disagree		—	—	—		12.6	18.2	69.1		82.3	12.6	5.2
Neutral		—	—	—		8.4	53.1	38.6		28.4	58.4	13.3
Agree		—	—	—		28.1	39.7	32.1		11.8	14.6	73.6
Bottled water is safer than tap water					<.0001								<.0001
Disagree		8.8	7.9	83.4		—	—	—		17.7	12.4	70.0
Neutral		7.0	27.6	65.4		—	—	—		15.9	29.6	54.5
Agree		26.8	20.1	53.1		—	—	—		40.4	22.9	36.7
My local tap water tastes good					<.0001				<.0001
Disagree		48.2	22.4	29.5		14.9	24.1	61.0		—	—	—
Neutral		8.2	51.3	40.6		11.6	49.9	38.5		—	—	—
Agree		1.5	5.3	93.2		29.9	42.0	28.1		—	—	—

Abbreviation: NH: non-Hispanic.

^aWeighted percentage may not add up to 100% because of rounding.

^bχ² tests were used for each variable to examine differences across categories.

^cUnweighted sample size.

^dIncludes other race and multi-races.

^eWeight status was based on calculated body mass index (BMI) (kg/m²): underweight/healthy weight, BMI <25; overweight, BMI 25-<30; obesity, BMI ≥30.