2021 U.S. Household Bill Pay Market Size & Category Breakout
Today, doxo released our 2021 U.S. Bill Pay Market Size & Category Breakout Report. It reveals that Americans spend $2.91 trillion annually across 10 major bill categories. This figure makes up 20% of all U.S. consumer spending. In this report, statistical analysis of actual household payments was used to size the market across more than 37,000 U.S. zip codes and 45 types of services.
The report found that the average U.S. household spends $22,668 per year on bills. It also breaks out the household spending market size for each bill category, the percentage of households that pay each bill, and average bill pay costs by state.
doxo’s proprietary dataset generates the industry’s most accurate statistics
doxo’s bill pay service empowers consumers to pay more than 75,000 providers across more than 37,000 zip codes. The company’s customer base is over 5 million strong, and represents all U.S. income and regional demographic segments. By incorporating tens of millions of payments, the 2021 U.S. Bill Pay Market Size & Category Breakout Report is a true, direct representation of what Americans actually pay on bills.
This proprietary dataset provides the foundation for doxoINSIGHTS’ bottoms-up market sizing of the 10 most common bills. It also makes category size and average spend transparent at the national, state, and local levels. In contrast to other industry data sources, which often mix expenses incurred by households with employer-paid or withheld expenditures (e.g. health insurance, taxes), doxo’s unique household bill pay data quantifies the actual consumer portion of bill spend.
The report findings include breakouts by service category, household market penetration for each type of service, and household average spend per month by state.
$2.91 trillion total household bill pay spent across these categories:
- $788B Mortgage
- $558B Rent
- $463B Auto Loan
- $380B Utilities
- $235B Auto Insurance
- $149B Mobile Phone
- $147B Cable & Internet
- $134B Health Insurance (consumer-direct portion)
- $38B Life Insurance
- $29B Alarm & Security
The average U.S. household spends $22,668 per year on the most common bills
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the real median household income in the U.S. is $65,712. At the same time, doxo estimates that the average American household spends $22,668 per year on common bills. These figures suggest that more than a third of Americans’ yearly salary is put toward core expenses.
While housing costs top monthly expenses, the report reveals that the average household pays more per month for mobile phone and cable & internet bills than health or life insurance, which are frequently covered by employers. The average monthly amount of each bill paid in each category is:
- $1,279 Mortgage
- $1,062 Rent
- $412 Auto Loan
- $316 Utilities
- $186 Auto Insurance
- $116 Cable & Internet
- $113 Health Insurance
- $103 Mobile Phone
- $89 Life Insurance
- $87 Alarm & Security
The market size of each bill type is influenced by the actual percentage of households paying each category. For example, consumers that pay rent are not typically also paying a mortgage. See the report below for these category details.