Household Bills Now Total $25K Per Year as Consumers Struggle With Economic Uncertainty

doxo’s 2025 U.S. Household Bill Pay Report shows that Americans spend $3.45 trillion annually on the most common household bills, with mortgage and rent topping the list of largest monthly expenditures

doxo’s 2025 U.S. Household Bill Pay Report found that the typical consumer spends $24,695 per year on household bills. In total, The Bill Pay Economy™ of 2025 amounts to $4.55 trillion, of which $3.45 trillion are the thirteen most essential household bills. The report found that the typical U.S. household spends $2,058 per month, or 31% of income on the most essential household bills, and also breaks out the household spending market size for each of these bill categories, percentage of households that pay each bill, and median monthly and annual bill pay costs by state.

The 2025 U.S. Household Bill Pay Report provides resolution at the national, state, county and city levels, enabling the deepest and most complete picture of The Bill Pay Economy™. The dataset can be explored online for any location at doxo.com/w/insights/.

"As economic uncertainty continues to loom, American sentiment towards their own financial health remains cautious," said Liz Powell, Senior Director of INSIGHTS at doxo. "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. doxo's 2025 U.S. Household Bill Pay Report provides this critical economic transparency that quantifies household expenditures on mortgages, rent, insurance payments, utilities and other essential monthly bills. With this knowledge, doxo is empowering consumers, billers, and financial institutions alike to make better decisions."

Methodology update for 2025: doxo’s proprietary dataset of consumer bill pay activity remains the most accurate representation of The Bill Pay Economy™

doxo’s bill pay service enables all-in-one bill pay to more than 120,000 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 2025 U.S. Household Bill Pay Report directly represents what Americans actually pay on their bills.

Updated to represent 2025 consumer spending, this proprietary dataset provides the foundation for doxo’s bottom-up market sizing of the thirteen most common bills and makes category size and median spend transparent at the national, state, county and city levels. In contrast to other industry data sources – which often mix household recurring bill expenses with employer-paid or withheld expenditures (e.g. health insurance and taxes), and retail and discretionary spending (i.e. 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.

Updated for 2025, to better represent what the typical household can expect to spend, doxo has refined its methodology by utilizing the median expenditure (rather than average) on a given service type when calculating monthly costs. Additionally, to improve transparency and granularity, doxoINSIGHTS has broken out the Utilities category into four distinct categories: Gas, Electric, Waste & Recycling, and Water & Sewer. These refinements offer a more precise understanding of household spending patterns within the Bill Pay Economy at large.

Key Findings from 2025 U.S. Household Bill Pay Report include:

• Total Market Size: $3.45 trillion spent per year on the thirteen most essential household bills; $4.55 trillion when including all household bills
• Median Yearly Cost: $24,695 spent annually per household on the thirteen most essential household bills
• Percent of Annual Income: 31% of consumers’ income per year

According to The U.S. Census Bureau, the median household income in the U.S. is $80,610. Based on this, U.S. households are spending nearly a third of income on essential household bills.

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

$3.45 Trillion is Spent Across These 13 Essential Household Bill Categories:

• $935B Mortgage
• $713B Rent
• $478B Auto Loan
• $239B Auto Insurance
• $217B Electric
• $166B Mobile Phone
• $167B Health Insurance (consumer-direct portion)
• $164B Cable & Internet
• $129B Water & Sewer
• $110B Gas
• $75B Waste & Recycling
• $35B Life Insurance
• $23B Alarm & Security

The typical U.S. household spends $24,695 per year on the thirteen most essential bills

While housing continues to be the highest U.S. household expense by a longshot, the report reveals that the typical household is paying more out-of-pocket per month for Auto Loans and Cable & Internet than essential costs like Health or Life Insurance, which are frequently covered by their employer or automatically deducted from paychecks. The median monthly amount of each bill paid in each category is:

• $1,775 Mortgage
• $1,453 Rent
• $470 Auto Loan
• $121 Cable & Internet
• $120 Electric
• $105 Auto Insurance
• $96 Mobile Phone
• $86 Water & Sewer
• $74 Alarm & Security
• $72 Health Insurance (consumer-direct portion)
• $71 Gas
• $70 Waste & Recycling
• $60 Life Insurance

Note that the market size of each category, and the total spend per household per year, factor not only in the median 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.

Actual Bill Pay Category Spend Ranked by State

• Mortgage payments are highest in California, New Jersey, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and New York, respectively. Hawaii, California, Massachusetts, New York, and Washington top the list for Rent costs. West Virginia has the distinction of being the most affordable state for mortgage ($1,019/month) and is also the most affordable state for rent ($870/month)
• Auto Loan payments are highest in Nevada ($559/month) and Hawaii ($520/month). Vermont ($395/month) and West Virginia ($165/month) residents enjoy some of the lowest.
• Auto Insurance bills are the highest in Massachusetts ($167/month) and Delaware ($156/month), while West Virginia ($70/month) and Kansas ($46/month) pay the lowest monthly median.
• Gas expenses are highest in Alaska ($136/month) and Massachusetts ($117/month), while both Arizona ($50/month) and Louisiana ($38/month) are the most affordable.
• Electric expenses are highest in Hawaii ($197/month) and Rhode Island ($184/month), while residents in New Mexico ($89) and South Dakota ($79/month) pay the least
• Waste & Recycling are highest in both Massachusetts and Maryland ($127/month) and least expensive in Hawaii ($34/month) and Oklahoma ($25/month)
• Water & Sewer are highest in Maryland ($189/month) and Washington ($162/month). Water & sewer is cheapest in Tennessee and Alabama (both $55/month)
• Cable & Internet bills make the biggest dents in the pockets of residents in Delaware ($157/month) and Rhode Island ($150/month), and the smallest dents in the residents of Arkansas ($99/month) and Florida ($96/month).
• Mobile Phone bills are most expensive in Nebraska ($136/month), and are lowest in Illinois ($71/month).
• Health Insurance expenses, when considering consumer out-of-pocket spending only (excluding employer payments), are highest in Alaska ($235/month) and Rhode Island ($170/month) and lowest in Florida ($50/month) and Georgia ($30/month).
• Life Insurance spend is highest in Minnesota ($83/month) and Washington ($80/month) and is cheapest Virginia ($49/month) and Nevada ($47/month)
• Alarm & Security bills are most expensive in West Virginia ($110/month) and California ($100/month) and residents in Georgia ($63/month) and Alabama ($54/month) pay the least for protection.

In addition to the direct cost of household bills, consumers also contend with additional hidden costs of bill pay, which totals an average of $1,495 per year per U.S. household (up from $1,268 on average the year prior) per household. The Hidden Costs of Bill Pay report from doxo exposed the hidden bill pay costs – obscured in identity fraud, late fees, overdraft fees, and detrimental credit impacts – which amount to an additional $196 billion annually in consumer spending.

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

About doxoINSIGHTS

doxoINSIGHTS provides direct insight into The Bill Pay Economy™ 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 10 million paying consumers across over 97% of U.S. zip codes. doxo’s payment network covers over 120,000 billers in 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. Read more about doxoINSIGHTS’ methodology here.

About doxo

doxo delivers innovation that transforms the Bill Pay Economy™ for consumers, billers and financial technology providers. For over 10M consumers, doxo’s all-in-one bill pay makes it simple to organize and pay any bill on any device through a secure checkout. For billers, doxo’s network-driven platform enables online and mobile payments with a ridiculously simple integration, radically lower costs, and game-changing features that are unavailable with legacy bill pay vendors. For fintech partners, doxo delivers financial innovations to consumers across 97% of US Zip Codes, paying from more than 5,000 financial institutions to over 120,000 billers in 45+ service categories. For employees, doxo is a creative, ever-learning team that is passionate about building fintech tools that dramatically improve the bill pay experience. For investors, doxo provides an extraordinary opportunity to invest alongside Jackson Square Ventures, MDV, and Bezos Expeditions to disrupt a market that accounts for over $4T of US Household spend. To learn more about America’s leading bill pay network, visit doxo.com.

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