Staff Report
HAYS COUNTY — While many are flocking to Texas for more opportunities without breaking the bank, a recent report by doxo, a digital bill payment center, ranked Texas as the 20th most expensive state for household bills.
According to doxo’s 2022 State by State Bill Pay Market report, Texas residents on average spend $1,956 per month on the 10 most common household bills: mortgage, rent, auto loan, auto insurance, utilities, health insurance, life insurance, cable and satellite, mobile phone and alarm and security. This average is 2.3% lower than the monthly national average of $2,003, but still eats up 37% of Texans’ monthly income.
Data from the report reflects bill payment activity from households — everyone living under one roof — across more than 97% of U.S. zip codes. doxo relies on anonymized data from its 7 million customers paying more than 120,000 billers to give an accurate perspective into what households are paying for their bills. Aside from rent and mortgage information, all other data points are based on payments made on the doxo platform.
In Hays County, Buda, Dripping Springs and Kyle all ranked within the top 70 most expensive cities in Texas for these household bills, while Wimberley and San Marcos saw some lower averages. According to the report:
- Buda ranked #10. Residents pay an average of $2,627 a month on bills — 34% higher than the state average, 31.2% higher than the national average and taking up 40% of household income
- Dripping Springs ranked #19. Residents pay an average of $2,512 a month on bills — 28.4% higher than the state average, 25.4% higher than the national average and taking up 30% of household income
- Kyle ranked #64. Residents pay an average of $2,163 a month on bills — 10.6% higher than the state average, 8% higher than the national average and taking up 36% of household income
- Wimberley ranked #96. Residents pay an average of $1,962 a month on bills — 0.3% higher than the state average, 2% lower than the national average and taking up 33% of household income
- San Marcos ranked #161. Residents pay an average of $1,688 a month on bills — 13.7% lower than the state average, 15.7% lower than the national average and taking up 50% of household income
A May 2022 doxoINSIGHTS survey also showed that 9 out of 10 Americans (89%) noticed a jump in their household bills over the past year, seeing the biggest rise in their utility bills. This is in line with what doxo has seen from utility bill payments from April 2021 to April 2022, with heating oil and propane rising 28%, gas rising 11%, electric rising 5%, waste and recycling rising 4% and water and sewer rising 3%.
The survey also revealed that nearly 90% of Americans believe that rising inflation rates have had a negative impact on their overall financial health and 87% said that they worry about their ability to pay their bills if inflation rates continue to rise.
A representative from doxo said that while they don’t exactly know what the latest Consumer Price Index will reveal in the future, it’s crucial that consumers are armed with the tools they need to protect their financial time, as it is likely to be some time before bills trend back downward.
The full doxo study can be found at www.doxo.com/insights/doxoinsights-2022-state-by-state-bill-pay-market-report-reveals-hawaii-most-expensive-state-west-virginia-least.
