A new report from doxo reveals where Americans are paying the most and least for household bills by city. The doxoINSIGHTS 50 Largest U.S. Cities Household Spend Report 2025 analyzes actual bill payment data from millions of U.S. households, showing that residents of San Jose, California face the highest costs while those in Cleveland, Ohio enjoy the lowest.

The report, which reflects real bill payments across more than 97% of U.S. zip codes, finds that the median U.S. household spends $2,058 per month on bills, totaling $24,695 annually. However, costs vary drastically across the country's 50 largest cities.

"Bills are the largest category of household spending, yet their impact on the cost of living is often overlooked. Our proprietary Cost of Bills Index™ (COBI) and nationwide dataset allow us to quantify how household expenses compare from city to city," said Jaimie Sheridan, Head of INSIGHTS at doxo. "This level of transparency provides actionable insights based on actual payments—not estimates—helping consumers improve their financial well-being and businesses better understand their customers’ economic realities.”

Household bills—covering everything from housing and insurance to utilities and mobile phone service—are often a family’s single largest monthly expense. Gaining a clear picture of how these costs differ across cities allows consumers to:

• Improve financial health: By benchmarking their own household bills against local and national medians, consumers can identify opportunities to save.
• Evaluate providers: Bill-level comparisons highlight where some services may be disproportionately expensive relative to others.
• Weigh relocation decisions: Understanding how bills impact cost of living provides a clearer picture of what it truly costs to live in a new city, beyond just housing prices.

Key Findings

• San Jose leads the list of most expensive cities, with residents paying a median of $3,523 per month, which is 71% higher than the national median.
• California dominates the most expensive list, with San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angeles also ranking in the top 10. New York, Boston, Washington D.C., Seattle, Denver, and Austin also made the list of the top 10 most expensive cities.
• The Midwest is home to the most affordable cities. Cleveland residents pay a median of $1,606 per month, 22% less than the national median. Detroit, Dayton, Saint Louis, and Indianapolis also appear on the list of least expensive cities.

The report breaks down costs for the 13 most common household bills: mortgage, rent, auto loan, electric, gas, water and sewer, waste and recycling, auto insurance, cable and internet, health insurance, mobile phone, alarm and security, and life insurance. Compare median bill expenses in your area here.

High-Level Snapshot: The Most and Least Expensive Cities

10 Most Expensive Largest U.S. Cities for Household Bills:

10 Least Expensive Largest U.S. Cities for Household Bills:

¹Median Monthly Bill shown above reflects the Median Household Bill Pay Expense for the thirteen most common bills paid monthly, including housing (rent/mortgage). See full report for details.

²For the Cost of Bills Index™ (COBI), the number 100 represents the national median, and then, states, counties, and cities are assigned a number, either above or below 100, based on how they compare to the national median.

The information presented above and in the report is derived from the doxoINSIGHTS 2025 U.S. Household Bill Pay Report, which reflects a 12-month overview of actual consumer payment data from March 2024 to March 2025. To access the latest analysis of household bill expenses, click on the city hyperlink within the chart. Alternatively, you can visit www.doxo.com/w/explore and select a state to explore household bill expense data for each state, county, and city.

To view more from doxoINSIGHTS and its 50 Largest U.S. Cities Household Spend Report 2025, including a full breakdown of the amount paid in household bills across all of the 50 states, as well as previous doxo reports, visit the doxoINSIGHTS website.

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. Uncovering an even deeper level of insight into Americans’ cost of living, doxo’s proprietary Cost of Bills Index™ (COBI), a new feature of doxoINSIGHTS, provides a consistent basis of comparison at the state, county and city level.

About doxo

doxo delivers innovation that transforms the bill pay experience 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 8,000 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 $4T of US Household spend. To learn more about America’s leading bill pay network, visit doxo.com.

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