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Consumer bill payments for the 10 most essential bills sum to $25,513 annually on average, according to new data from doxo inc., a bill-payments provider.
Doxo’s “2024 U.S. Household Bill Pay Report” says that total corresponds to 34% of a consumer’s income spent across mortgage or rent, auto loans, utilities, auto insurance, mobile phone service, cable and Internet service, health insurance, life insurance, and alarm and security providers. The report includes data on what doxo calls tens of millions of bill payments in 97% of U.S. ZIP codes, across all income and demographic segments.
The largest monthly outlay for bills is the mortgage payment, at $1,402 on average, followed by rent, at $1,300. The average auto-loan payment is a distant third, at $496.
Mortgages, with an annual spend of $885 billion, amount to 26% of the household bill expense. California, at $2,576, has the highest average monthly bill and West Virginia, at $961, the lowest.
Rent expenses total $656 billion annually and account for 20% of a household’s bill payment expense. Hawaii, at $1,983 per month, is the highest and West Virginia, at $846, the lowest.
“While we’re starting to see an overall cooling of inflation, American sentiment towards their own financial health remains bleak,” Liz Powell, senior director of doxo’s Insights research arm, says in a statement. “70% of American consumers report they’re still worried about their financial wellbeing despite a stabilizing economy.”
As for how consumers pay these bills, an earlier doxo report found that more than 70% of consumers use an automated clearing house payment to pay credit cards and mortgages. For rent, 26% used a check and 25% use an ACH payment. Cash accounted for 12% of rent payments in the 2023 report.
