doxoINSIGHTS Report Finds Average U.S. Household Spends $24,032 Per Year on 10 Most Common Bill Categories

SEATTLE, Wash.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–doxo, the innovative web and mobile bill pay service, today released its 2022 U.S Bill Pay Market Size & Category Breakout Report, revealing that of the $4.61 trillion that Americans spend annually on household bills, $3.12 trillion falls within 10 primary bill payment categories, comprising nearly one quarter of all U.S. consumer spending1. In this report, statistical analysis of actual household payments – across 97% of U.S. zip codes and 45 types of services – was used to size the market and categories. The report found that the average U.S. household spends $24,032 per year on bills and breaks out the household spending market size for each bill category, percentage of households that pay each bill, and average monthly and annual bill pay costs by state.

“doxoINSIGHTS’ 2022 U.S. Bill Pay Market Size and Category Breakout Report leverages our proprietary dataset to help make the U.S. Bill Pay Economy transparent and understandable for all, especially in our current economic environment,” said Jim Kreyenhagen, doxo’s VP of Marketing and Consumer Services. “Alongside our app that simplifies the task of staying on top of bills to help improve financial health, these reports support doxo’s ongoing mission to empower our consumer users, billers, and financial service providers alike to make better decisions.”

doxo’s proprietary dataset of consumer bill pay activity generates the industry’s most accurate category and regional statistics:

doxo’s bill pay service enables all-in-one bill pay to more than 100,000 providers across the country in 45 different service categories. By incorporating tens of millions of bill payments across 97% of U.S. zip codes and all U.S. income and regional demographic segments, the 2022 U.S Bill Pay Market Size & Category Breakout Report directly represents what Americans actually pay on their bills.

Updated to represent 2022 consumer spending numbers and patterns, this proprietary dataset provides the foundation for doxoINSIGHTS’ bottom-up market sizing of the 10 most common bills and makes category size and average spend transparent at the national, state, and local level. In contrast to other industry data sources – which often mix household recurring bill expenses with employer-paid or withheld expenditures (e.g. health insurance, taxes), and retail and discretionary spending (e.g. credit card balances) – doxo’s unique, nation-wide household bill pay data specifically quantifies the actual consumer portion of total recurring bill spend and household penetration rate for each category.

The report findings include breakouts by service category, household market penetration for each type of service, and household average spend per month by state.

$3.12 trillion total household bill pay spent across these categories:

  • $853B Mortgage
  • $616B Rent
  • $493B Auto Loan
  • $399B Utilities
  • $250B Auto Insurance
  • $166B Mobile Phone
  • $146B Cable & Internet
  • $146B Health Insurance (consumer-direct portion)
  • $35B Life Insurance
  • $20B Alarm & Security

The average U.S. household spends $24,032 per year on the most common bills

According to The U.S. Census Bureau, the real median household income in the U.S. is $67,5212. This number, combined with doxo’s estimate that the average U.S. household spends $24,032 per year on common bills, suggests that more than one third of Americans’ yearly salary is put toward core expenses – a sizable portion of income by any measure.

While housing continues to be the highest U.S. household expense by a longshot, the report reveals that the average household is paying more out-of-pocket per month for auto loans, auto insurance, and even mobile phone bills than essential costs like health or life insurance, which are frequently covered by their employer or automatically deducted from paychecks. The average monthly amount of each bill paid in each category is:

  • $1,368 Mortgage
  • $1,129 Rent
  • $433 Auto Loan
  • $328 Utilities
  • $196 Auto Insurance
  • $123 Health Insurance (consumer-direct portion)
  • $114 Cable & Internet
  • $113 Mobile Phone
  • $84 Alarm & Security
  • $82 Life Insurance

Note that the market size of each category, and the total spend per household per year, factor in not only in the average amount of each bill payment, but also the actual percentage of households paying each category. For example, consumers that pay rent are not typically also paying a mortgage. See full report for these category details.

Comparison data shows how bills rank by state

  • Mortgage payments are highest in New Jersey, California, Hawaii, Massachusetts and New York, respectively. Many of the same states also top the list for rent costs: Hawaii, California, Maryland, New York, and New Jersey. West Virginia has the distinction of being the most affordable state for both mortgage ($817 on average per month) and rent ($695 on average per month) costs.
  • Auto Loan payments are highest in Wyoming ($511/month) and Alaska ($501/month). West Virginia ($385/month) and Pennsylvania ($377/month) residents enjoy some of the lowest.
  • While auto loan bills in Pennsylvania may be the least expensive, residents of the state pay higher than average Auto Insurance bills, the 13th highest out of the 50 states, at $211/month. Wyoming and North Dakota, both $307/month, pay the highest for Auto Insurance, while Minnesota ($152/month) and Alabama ($151/month) pay the lowest monthly average.
  • Utilities expenses (defined in the doxo report as electric, gas, water & sewer, and waste & recycling) are highest in Hawaii ($550/month) and Maine ($452/month), while Wyoming ($248/month) and Mississippi ($243/month) are the most affordable.
  • Cable & Internet bills make the biggest dents in the pockets of residents in New Hampshire ($140/month) and Maine ($134/month), and the smallest dents in the residents of Utah ($97/month) and South Dakota ($96/month).
  • Mobile Phone bills are most expensive in Alaska ($174/month), more than double the lowest state in the Union, North Dakota ($88/month)
  • Health Insurance expenses, when considering consumer out-of-pocket spending only (excluding employer payments), are highest in North Dakota ($259/month) and Hawaii ($250/month) and lowest in Alaska ($74/month)
  • Life Insurance spend is highest in Rhode Island ($153/month), more than three times that of the lowest state, Alaska ($45/month)
  • Alarm & Security bills are most expensive in Kansas ($149/month) and Hawaii ($144/month) and residents in Utah ($63/month) and Nebraska ($58/month) pay the least for protection.

In addition to the $24,032 per year the average household spends on the most common bills, consumers also contend with additional hidden costs of bill pay, which totals an average of $925 per year per U.S. household (substantially up from $577 on average the year prior) per household. The Hidden Cost of Bill Pay report from doxoINSIGHTS exposed these fees, finding that staying on top of bills to avoid late fees and other overages, is the single largest determinant in consumer financial health.

For more information, or to view the entire report, visit www.doxo.com/insights/.

About doxoINSIGHTS

doxoINSIGHTS provides direct insight into household financial health and spending activity by leveraging consumer surveys and doxo’s unique aggregate bill pay data set, comprising actual bill payment activity to confirmed household service providers across the country. doxo data brings together the broadest available data set for analyzing actual household bill payment activity, pulling from over six (6) million paying consumers across over 97% of U.S. zip codes. doxo’s payment network covers over 100,000 providers across 45 different service categories and enables payments using bank accounts, credit cards or debit cards. This uniquely broad statistical foundation powers doxoINSIGHTS reports – uncovering key trends for household financial health and bill payment behavior.

About doxo

doxo provides simple, secure all-in-one bill payment to any biller, with any payment method, on any device. A doxoPLUS subscription adds free bank payments and five essential financial protections that boost household financial health. Through these services, doxo currently serves over six (6) million users who can make payments to over 100,000 local and national businesses, making doxo the largest bill pay directory in the nation. Billers on the network get paid directly, fast and free – and consumers have complete bill pay independence over when and how they pay their bills. doxo investors include MDV, Sigma Partners, and Bezos Expeditions. doxo is based in Seattle, WA. For more information visit www.doxo.com.

1https://apps.bea.gov/iTable/iTable.cfm?reqid=19&step=3&isuri=1&nipa_table_list=2014&categories=underlying

2United States Census Bureau, Income and Poverty in the United States

Contacts

Dotted Line Communications for doxo

Jenny Davis

press@doxo.com