Women going over her monthly budget on her laptop

Average US Household Spends $23K On Bills

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Cara Pace
February 25, 2021

A new report from doxo, a mobile bill pay service, found that the average American household spends $22,668 per year on their household bills. The report focused on the 10 most common bills: mortgage, rent, auto loan, utilities, auto insurance, mobile phone, cable and internet, health insurance, life insurance, alarm and security.

The report calculated the total spend across these 10 bills to be $2.91 trillion annually. That’s approximately one-fifty of all U.S. consumer spending.

How much are we spending on bills?

The average household spends almost $22,668 a year on their household bills. And it’s no surprise that the mortgage and rent are the most costly bills for U.S. households. The report found the average monthly mortgage payment is $1,279, or $15,348 a year. The average rent payment is $1,062, or $12,744 a year. 

If you consider the U.S. Census Bureau's median income of $65,712, that means the average household is spending over 23% of their income on a mortgage payment. 

The average monthly amount of each bill paid in each category is:

  • $1,279 Mortgage
  • $1,062 Rent
  • $412 Auto loan
  • $316 Utilities
  • $186 Auto insurance
  • $116 Cable and internet
  • $113 Health insurance
  • $103 Mobile phone
  • $89 Life insurance
  • $87 Alarm and security

Looking at the spend on household bills on an annual basis, it adds up to $2.91 trillion annually. The breakdown by bill pay category is:

  • $788B Mortgage
  • $558B Rent
  • $463B Auto loan
  • $380B Utilities
  • $235B Auto insurance
  • $149B Mobile phone
  • $147B Cable and internet
  • $134B Health insurance 
  • $38B Life insurance
  • $29B Alarm and security

Driving and insurance are expensive

After mortgage and rent, the third largest bill for households is an auto loan. While 40% of households reported paying a mortgage bill, 73% are paying an auto loan. The average monthly auto loan bill rode in at $412. By state, the residents of Wyoming topped the list for having the highest average auto loan bill at $559 a month.

>>CALCULATOR: Auto loan calculator

With an auto loan comes auto insurance, which 82% of households reported having this bill. The average monthly auto insurance bill is $186. Again, Wyoming residents top the list paying an average of $335 a month on their auto insurance. At $136 a month, Idaho has the lowest average monthly auto insurance bill. 

>>READ MORE: 8 ways to lower your car insurance bill

Doxo’s 2021 U.S. Bill Pay Market Size & Category Breakout Report data is based on actual household payments made in over 37,000 U.S. ZIP codes.