NJ residents in this town pay the most for their household bills, says report
This article was originally posted on NJ 101.5
New Jersey is the fourth most expensive state for household bills, according to a newly released report.
The “State by State Bill Pay Market 2024” report by doxo, an online bill pay provider, finds that New Jersey residents spend $2,802, on average, per month on the 10 most common household bills. That comes out to $33,627 per year. That’s 32% higher than the monthly national average of $2,046, according to the report.
Household bills account for 32% of annual household income of $104,132 in New Jersey.
According to the report, New Jersey residents pay an average of $2,460 for a mortgage and $1,628 for rent. They also pay, on average, $537 a month for car loans, as well as $474 for utilities (electric, gas, water and sewer, and waste and recycling), $79 for health insurance, $203 for auto insurance, $133 for cable and internet, $130 for mobile, $111 for alarm and security, and $104 per month for life insurance.
The report also breaks down data for 224 towns and cities in New Jersey.
Princeton in Mercer County tops the list in the Garden State for having the highest household bills, coming in at $4,530 per month, the report finds. That’s $28,841 more than the U.S. average.
Rounding out the top 10 in the report are Hoboken, Princeton Junction, South Orange, Madison, Chatham, Maplewood, Westfield, Ridgewood, and Livingston.
New York is the seventh most expensive state for household bills, with an average of $2,627 spent per month. Pennsylvania is the 29th most expensive state with residents shelling out an average of $2,022 per month for household bills.
Hawaii is the most expensive state in the U.S. for household bills, with residents paying slightly over $3,000 per month, on average. California is the second most expensive, followed by Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Maryland rounding out the top five.
A state-by-state breakdown that includes the average amount spent per month on the 10 most common household bills, the Cost of Bills Index (COBI), the percentage of household income the bills amount to, and how the spending for each state compares to the national average can be found here.