Here’s how much Midland residents spend on monthly bills
This article originally appeared on Midland Daily News
By Shepard Price
Recently, doxo, a bill-pay service, released its 2022 U.S. Bill Pay Market Size & Category Breakout Report, which revealed that Americans spend $3.12 trillion annually across the 10 most common household bill categories.
That figure makes up almost 25% of all U.S. consumer spending, doxo stated. Statistical analysis of actual household payments were used to gauge the market for the report across more than 97% of U.S. zip codes.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the real median household income in the U.S. is $67,521, and the report found that the average American household spends $24,032 per year on common bills. This suggests that more than a third of Americans’ yearly salary is put toward core expenses, doxo stated.
While housing continues to be the highest U.S. household expense by a wide margin, 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 employers or automatically deducted from paychecks.
Per month, the average American household spends $1,368 on mortgages (with 40% of households paying this bill) or $1,129 on rent (35%), $433 on an auto loan (73%), $328 on utilities (78%), $196 on auto insurance (82%), $123 on health insurance (76%), $114 on cable and internet (82%) and $113 on a mobile phone bill (94%). Alarm & Security bills account for another $84 (15%) and life insurance $82 (27%).
According to the report, the average Michigan household spends $1,124 monthly on mortgages, No. 34 in the U.S. or $885 on rent (No. 29), with other monthly spending including $410 on auto loans (No. 36), $310 on utilities (No. 26), $185 on auto insurance (No. 30), $114 on cable and internet (No. 24), $122 on health insurance (No. 18), $100 on mobile phone bills (No. 46), $82 on life insurance (No. 25) and $100 on alarm and security bills (No. 4).
The average Midland household spends $1,676 per month on the 10 most common bills, 16.3% lower than the national average and it ranked No. 104 out of 167 markets tracked in Michigan. That number accounts for 32% of household income, doxo stated. The highest average bill is for mortgages, $1,140 per month, with 43% of Midland paying this monthly bill.
According to the report, the bill most Midland residents pay is related to mobile phone service, with 95% of residents paying this bill with an average monthly cost of $82, $31 lower than the national average. Another 87% of Midland residents pay a monthly cable and satellite bill, averaging $135, $21 higher than the national average ($114).
The report states that most Midland residents pay bills through debit cards.
By incorporating tens of millions of payments, doxo stated, the 2022 U.S. Bill Pay Market Size & Category Breakout Report is a direct representation of what Americans actually pay on bills. The company’s customer base includes more than 6 million households and represents all U.S. income and regional demographic segments, doxo stated.
Doxo uses unique household bill pay data to quantify the actual customer portion of bill spend.