$5.03 Trillion in Household Bills Underscores Growing Financial Strain

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SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb 19, 2026--

doxo’s 2026 U.S. Household Bill Pay Report found that the typical consumer spends $39,468 per year on household bills, with $24,997 spent on the thirteen most essential household bills. In total, The Bill Pay Economy™ accounts for $5.03 trillion in 2026. Click here for a brief audio summary of the report’s key findings and watch a short video.

The report provides detailed insights into category-level market size, the percentage of households paying each bill, and median monthly bill costs by state.

The findings are powered by doxo’s consumer payment platform, doxoBILLS, enabling all-in-one bill pay across more than 120,000 providers across 45 service categories nationwide. Drawing on tens of millions of bill payments across 97% of U.S. ZIP codes and all income and regional demographic segments, the report reflects what Americans actually pay on their household bills.

This proprietary dataset forms the foundation of doxo’s bottom-up market sizing of the thirteen most common household bills, delivering transparent insights into category size and median household spending at the national, state, county, and city levels. Unlike many industry sources that combine household bills with employer-paid or withheld expenses—such as health insurance and income taxes—or discretionary spending like credit card balances, doxo’s data isolates the true consumer portion of recurring household bill spend, enabling more accurate measurement of market size and household adoption across categories.

Federal and state income taxes—totaling more than $3.2 trillion annually—represent a significant financial obligation for U.S. households. However, because these taxes are largely withheld before income reaches consumers, they are analyzed separately from household bill pay in this report. While not included in Bill Pay Economy™ calculations, income taxes remain a key compounding factor in overall household financial pressure.

Overall Market Size By Bill Category:

• $1.08T Mortgage
• $740B Rent
• $484B Auto Loan
• $253B Auto Insurance
• $228B Electric
• $182B Health Insurance (consumer-direct portion)
• $169B Mobile Phone
• $168B Cable & Internet
• $135B Water & Sewer
• $115B Gas
• $79B Waste & Recycling
• $33B Life Insurance
• $23B Alarm & Security
• $1.35T Other (consumer-direct expenses for taxes & fees, tuition, and student loans)

Key Findings from2026 U.S. Household Bill Pay Report:

• Total Market Size: $5.03 trillion annually for all household bills
• Median Annual Cost: $39,468 per household, $3,289 per month
• Percent of Annual Income: Approximately 47% of annual household income

With median U.S. household income at $84,583, essential household bills consume nearly one-third of earnings.

The report also includes detailed breakouts by service category, household market costs, and median monthly household spend by state, providing a clear and data-driven view of U.S. bill pay behavior.

U.S. household spends $3.69 trillion per year on the thirteen most essential bills

Key Findings from2026 U.S. Household Bill Pay Report:

• Market Size: $3.69 trillion annually for the thirteen most essential household bills
• Median Annual Cost: $24,997 per household, $2,083 per month
• Percent of Annual Income: Approximately 30% of annual household income

The median monthly bill for each category are as follows:

• $1,769 Mortgage
• $1,453 Rent
• $480 Auto Loan
• $125 Electric
• $124 Cable & Internet
• $108 Auto Insurance
• $98 Mobile Phone
• $87 Water & Sewer
• $80 Health Insurance (consumer-direct portion)
• $76 Alarm & Security
• $71 Gas
• $71 Waste & Recycling
• $60 Life Insurance

Housing affordability remains the largest cost pressure on U.S. households. Combined mortgage and rent payments total nearly $1.82 trillion annually, highlighting housing’s outsized impact on overall cost-of-living pressures. Mortgage payments alone rose by $145 billion year over year, the largest gain across any bill category, reinforcing concerns that housing costs continue to outpace income growth and strain household budgets.

Health insurance spending increased by more than 7% compared to 2025, extending a multi-year trend of rising premiums and out-of-pocket costs that continue to erode household financial stability.

Meanwhile, total household utility spending reached $557 billion annually, led by $228 billion in electricity costs, making electricity the largest utility expense. Growing electricity demand has intensified scrutiny of how energy prices and infrastructure investments are translating into higher recurring bills for American households.

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 ($1,032/month) and is also the most affordable state for rent ($870/month)
• Auto Loan payments are highest in Nevada ($550/month) and California ($529/month). Pennsylvania ($400/month) and West Virginia ($135/month) residents enjoy some of the lowest.
• Auto Insurance bills are the highest in New Hampshire ($220/month) and Massachusetts ($170/month), while West Virginia ($71/month) and Kansas ($55/month) pay the lowest monthly median.
• Gas expenses are highest in Alaska ($136/month) and Massachusetts ($126/month), while both Arizona ($47/month) and Louisiana ($42/month) are the most affordable.
• Electric expenses are highest in Hawaii ($200/month) and Alabama ($180/month), while residents in Utah ($100) and South Dakota ($82/month) pay the least.
• Waste & Recycling are highest in Maryland ($138/month) and Connecticut ($130/month), while residents in Hawaii ($35/month) and Oklahoma ($23/month) pay the least.
• Water & Sewer are highest in Maryland ($242/month) and Vermont ($158/month). Water & sewer is cheapest in Alabama ($57/month) and South Carolina ($55/month).
• Cable & Internet bills make the biggest dents in the pockets of residents in both Delaware and Vermont (Both $159/month), and the smallest dents in the residents of Florida ($95/month) and Arkansas ($94/month).
• Mobile Phone bills are most expensive in Montana ($135/month), and are lowest in Illinois ($80/month).
• Health Insurance expenses, when considering consumer out-of-pocket spending only (excluding employer payments), are highest in North Carolina ($223/month) and Rhode Island ($141/month) and lowest in Tennessee ($49/month) and Georgia ($42/month).
• Life Insurance spend is highest in Rhode Island ($80/month) and Oregon ($80/month) and is cheapest Missouri ($50/month) and Oklahoma ($45/month)
• Alarm & Security bills are most expensive in New York ($117/month) and Florida ($111/month) and residents in Georgia ($65/month) and Alabama ($53/month) pay the least for protection.

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 10,000 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 $5T of US Household spend. To learn more about America’s leading bill pay network, visit doxo.com.

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SOURCE: doxo

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PUB: 02/19/2026 12:00 PM/DISC: 02/19/2026 12:02 PM

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