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Special Report: The Yearly Household Bills of Your Clients Hits $24,000

Published May 13, 2025 at 12:59 PM · News Releases and Bulletins

A fascinating report from the online bill-paying site, Doxo finds the typical household spends $24,695 a year on bills. Doxo Senior Director of INSIGHTS Liz Powell said the report also estimates the average annual income of U.S. households at $80,610. That means our monthly bills an average of $2,058.

One important insight from the report has Powell noting the respondents to be a little uncertain about the future.

"As economic uncertainty continues to loom, American sentiment towards their own financial health remains cautious," Powell said. ”Only 23% of Americans believe the current economy is faring well, a 12-year low. In this challenging context, it's never been more important to understand the essential financial obligations of the American household.”

This report delves into that understanding.

Nationwide our household bills nationwide hit about $4.55 trillion per year. Doxo averages the most essential household bills into 13 categories. They cost us $3.45 trillion a year:

  • Mortgage — $935 billion
  • Rent — $713 billion
  • Auto loan — $478 billion
  • Auto insurance — $239 billion
  • Electricity — $217 billion
  • Mobile phone — $166 billion
  • Health insurance — $167 billion
  • Cable & internet — $164 billion
  • Water & sewer — $129 billion
  • Gas — $110 billion
  • Waste & recycling — $75 billion
  • Life insurance — $35 billion
  • Alarm & security — $23 billion
  • Other — $1,104 billion

Here’s a breakdown showing an average cost per household:

Mortgage

Median monthly bill: $1,775

Annual average:  $8,472

Percent of households with a mortgage:  40%

Rent

Median monthly bill: $1,453

Annual average: $5,804

Percent of households paying rent: 33%

Auto loan

Median monthly bill: $470

Annual average: $3,467

Percent of households with an auto loan: 73%

Cable & internet

Median monthly bill: $121

Annual average:  $1,064

Percent of households with this payment: 73%

Electricity

Median monthly bill: $120

Annual average: $1,292

Percent of households with an electric bill: 90%

Auto insurance

Median monthly bill: $105

Annual average: 80%

Percent of households with auto insurance premium: 80%

Mobile phone

Median monthly bill: $96

Annual average: $1,016

Percent of households with a mobile phone: 88%

Water & sewer

Median monthly bill: $86

Annual average: $742

Percent of households with this bill: 72%

Alarm & security

Median monthly bill: $74

Annual average: $117

Percent of households with security bill: 13%

Health insurance

Median monthly bill: $72

Annual average: $563

Percent of households with health insurance: 66%

Gas

Median monthly bill: $71

Annual average: $564

Percent of households with this bill: 65%

Waste & recycling

Median monthly bill: $70

Annual average: $443

Percent of households with this bill: 53%

Life insurance

Median monthly bill: $60

Annual average: $150

Percent of households purchasing life insurance: 21%

Doxo said the highest mortgage payments are in the PIA Western Alliance states of California and Hawaii, and New Jersey, Massachusetts and New York. When it comes to rent costs, the PIA Western Alliance state of Washington is the most expensive.

Auto loan payments are highest in the PIA Western Alliance states of Nevada and Hawaii. Nevada’s payments average $559 a month and Hawaii’s is $520 a month.

The highest auto insurance bills are in Massachusetts. It averages $167/month.

Gas prices are highest in the PIA Western Alliance state of Alaska at $136 a month.

Electricity is most expensive in the PIA Western Alliance state of Hawaii averaging $197 a month. Residents in the PIA Western Alliance state of Arizona pay the least at $89.

The least expensive waste and recycling is in the PIA Western Alliance state of Hawaii. Residents there average $34 a month.

Water and sewer average the highest in Maryland and the PIA Western Alliance state of Washington where residents average $162 a month.

Out-of-pocket health insurance expenses are highest in the PIA Western Alliance state of Alaska where residents average monthly payments of $235.

Life insurance is highest in Minnesota at $83 a month and the PIA Washington State of Washington isn’t far behind with residents paying $80.

Alarm and security bills are highest in West Virginia where residents pay a monthly fee averaging $110. The PIA Western Alliance state of California isn’t far behind with residents seeing a $100 average costs. Residents in the PIA Western Alliance state of Idaho are second from the bottom in average costs at $74 a month.

By the way, the top 13 categories account for 26% of all household spending.

Here are the average mortgages for the 10 PIA Western Alliance states and the nationwide ranking of each state in average monthly costs:

  1. California

The average monthly payment: $2,657

  1. Hawaii

The average monthly payment: $2,494

  1. Washington

The average monthly payment: $2,084

  1. Oregon

The average monthly payment: $1,885

  1. Alaska

The average monthly payment: $1,834

  1. Nevada

The average monthly payment: $1,638

  1. Arizona

The average monthly payment: $1,552

  1. Montana

The average monthly payment: $1,520

  1. Idaho

The average monthly payment: $1,412

  1. New Mexico

The average monthly payment: $1,339

Here is a list of the median monthly bill for auto loans. The top three highest payments are in The PIA Western Alliance states of Nevada, Hawaii and California.

  1. Nevada

The average monthly payment: $559

  1. Hawaii

The average monthly payment: $520

  1. California

The average monthly payment: $515

The rest of The PIA Western Alliance states:

  1. Arizona

The average monthly payment: $500

  1. Washington

The average monthly payment: $490

  1. Alaska

The average monthly payment: $460

  1. New Mexico

The average monthly payment: $458

  1. Oregon

The average monthly payment: $449

  1. Montana

The average monthly payment: $430

  1. Idaho

The average monthly payment: $414

As a nation, we spend $239 billion per year on auto insurance averaging $105 per month. It's about 5% of the average household budget and 80% of us carry auto insurance.

The average cost of auto insurance in the PIA Western Alliance states and how they rank nationally:

  1. Alaska

The average monthly payment: $136

  1. Washington

The average monthly payment: $125

  1. Arizona

The average monthly payment: $125

  1. Nevada

The average monthly payment: $123

  1. California

The average monthly payment: $122

  1. Hawaii

The average monthly payment: $118

  1. Oregon

The average monthly payment: $100

  1. Montana

The average monthly payment: $100

  1. New Mexico

The average monthly payment: $91

  1. Idaho

The average monthly payment: $88

Health insurance costs have hit $167 billion and is 4% of every household budget. The average monthly payment is $72 and 65% of us have health insurance. The PIA Western Alliance state of Alaska has the highest national average with California and Washington sitting in the top 10 most expensive states.

  1. Alaska

The average monthly payment: $235

  1. California

The average monthly payment: $125

  1. Washington

The average monthly payment: $100

  1. Arizona

The average monthly payment: $90

  1. Nevada

The average monthly payment: $82

  1. Oregon

The average monthly payment: $80

19 New Mexico

The average monthly payment: $79

  1. Montana

The average monthly payment: $78

  1. Hawaii

The average monthly payment: $77

  1. Idaho

The average monthly payment: $70

In our analysis of the Doxo report we were quite confused about the gas category. It doesn’t identify whether it is gasoline or natural gas. If you click on the link below, you can see the icon Doxo used to identify “gas.” It made no sense to us.

If any of you have an answer to what that is, please send Weekly Industry News Editor Gary Wolcott an email at garywolcott@piawest.com. He’d love your thoughts on it.

In his investigation, he took a look at other sources for natural gas spending and gasoline spending and found those figures did not jibe with Doxo’s. So this section of the report might not be very accurate depending on what the icon really represents.

Accurate or not, here we go. Doxo says the national average for “gas” spending is $110 billion per year. We spend 2% of our household income on gas with an average cost per month being $71. The number of households buying natural gas each year is 66%.

The PIA Western Alliance states of Alaska and Washington are in the top 10 most expensive states.

  1. Alaska

Average monthly spending: $136

  1. Washington

Average monthly spending: $99

  1. Hawaii

Average monthly spending: $80

  1. Oregon

Average monthly spending: $75

  1. Nevada

Average monthly spending: $70

  1. Montana

Average monthly spending: $60

  1. California

Average monthly spending: $60

  1. New Mexico

Average monthly spending: $50

  1. Idaho

Average monthly spending: $50

  1. Arizona

Average monthly spending: $50

We only spend $35 billion a year on life insurance and it's an average of 1% of family household bills. Just 21% of us have life insurance policies and the average monthly cost is $60. The PIA Western Alliance states of Washington, New Mexico, Hawaii and California are in the top-10 most expensive life insurance states:

  1. Washington

The average monthly payment: $83

  1. New Mexico

The average monthly payment: $77

  1. Hawaii

The average monthly payment: $75

  1. California

The average monthly payment: $70

  1. Oregon

The average monthly payment: $69

  1. Arizona

The average monthly payment: $64

  1. Montana

The average monthly payment: $63

  1. Idaho

The average monthly payment: $61

  1. Alaska

The average monthly payment: $56

  1. Nevada

The average monthly payment: $47

Source link: Doxo — https://bit.ly/457RwPq

Source link: PropertyCasualty360.com — https://bit.ly/4k07AHU