The 10 Cheapest States for Household Bills

Whether you are planning to retire in another city or simply want a new place to call home, finding somewhere with a low cost of living helps.

Keeping your household bills to a minimum is one of the best ways to make a new home more affordable. And where you live can have a large bearing on how much you pay for these monthly obligations.

Doxo — a bill payment center and digital filing cabinet service — recently released a report that looks at bill payment activity covering more than 97% of U.S. ZIP codes.

It then compiled a list of the most and least expensive states to live in based on average monthly household bill payments in the following categories:

• Mortgage
• Rent
• Auto loan
• Utilities (electric, gas, water and sewer, and waste and recycling)
• Auto Insurance
• Cable, internet and phone
• Health insurance (consumer-paid portion)
• Mobile phone
• Alarm and security
• Life insurance

Following are the places where household bills are the cheapest.

1. West Virginia

Average monthly household bill expense: $1,452 (for the 10 most common bills paid)

Paying bills here is breeze, at least compared with other states. For example, Hawaiians pay more than double the cost for household bills — $2,911 — than West Virginians do.

Here, residents spend just 38% of their household income on bills. West Virginia also is among the “9 States With the Lowest Property Tax Rates.”

2. Arkansas

Average monthly household bill expense: $1,552 (for the 10 most common bills paid)

Those who live in Arkansas spend slightly more on bills than residents of West Virginia, but costs are still low, accounting for just 40% of household income.

Arkansas is also one of the “15 States With the Fastest-Growing Economies.”

3. Mississippi

Average monthly household bill expense: $1,559 (for the 10 most common bills paid)

Another Southern state rounds out the top three. Bills here run you just $7 a month more than in Arkansas and account for 42% of household income.

The rest of the top 10

Here are the rest of the top 10 on the Doxo list and how much average monthly bills will set you back in those states:

• Indiana: $1,607
• Kentucky: $1,627
• Oklahoma: $1,634
• South Dakota: $1,654
• New Mexico: $1,663
• Alabama: $1,688
• Nebraska: $1,696