27-05-2025
The most—and least—expensive U.S. states based on the median monthly costs of essential household bills
In May, bill pay service doxo released its 2025 Cost of Bills Index, which breaks down comparative household costs across the country.
The report focused on the 13 most common household bill categories:
To determine the ranking, doxo compared the median cost of the most common household bills across the United States. They used the number 100 to represent the national average in the index. Then, states were assigned a number either above or below 100 based on how they compared to the national average.
doxo's index found that the average U.S. household spends $24,695 annually on the 13 essential household bills. The median mortgage is $1,775, while the median rent is $1,453.
"We've got a different economic environment than we had two or three years ago, most acutely in the categories that impact consumer debt because interest rates are different," Steve Shivers, Founder and CEO at doxo, tells CNBC Make It.
"The cost of mobility is much higher. People have to be a lot more careful and thoughtful about discretionary spending. The debt categories have shifted so dramatically that starting a new significant purchase is something that most consumers, especially right now, with a lot more uncertainty, are going to be much more conservative about," he adds.
"That obviously has broader economic implications because if consumer spending slows, it ripples through a lot of things."
California dethroned Hawaii as the most expensive state based on the cost of monthly household bills. Residents spend $2,854 — 39% above the national average.
The doxo report found California's household bills are $9,588 per year higher than the U.S. median. In the Golden State, household bills account for 33% of California residents' annual household income of $104,029.
"California is sort of a double-edged sword. You've got the high housing costs, and on top of that, every single category of bills in California is higher than the national median," Shivers says.
For the third year in a row, West Virginia ranked as the least expensive state based on monthly costs.
The average cost of bills in West Virginia is $1,149 per month — 44% lower than the U.S. median. The report also found that household bills make up 23% of the annual household income of $59,859 in the state.
"West Virginia is remarkable because the cost of bills is still lower than any other state and it's no surprise. It's a state where the cost of living is lower but its economy is still struggling. It suffers from trying to create diversity beyond some traditional industries," Shivers says.
"You don't want to move into a state and just sort of exploit the fact that it has a living wage. You want to move into a state where you can say we're going to provide new jobs and where we know we can be confident that our employees can have a living wage and a reasonable quality of life," he adds.
The Mountain State also ranked as the cheapest state to live in for 2024, according to CNBC's America's Top States for Business Study.
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