Despite rising costs due to inflation, Missouri -- and its Capital City -- ranked low among other areas for household expenses.
The Show-Me State ranked No. 40 among states in terms of average monthly household bill costs, with Missourians paying an average of $1,706 per month on the 10 most common household expenses: Mortgage, rent, auto loans, utilities, car insurance, cell phones, cable and satellite, health insurance, security systems and life insurance.
The state was 15 percent below the national average of $2,003 per month, according to the report. The data showed 97 percent of Missourians paying monthly for cell phone usage, with an average monthly expense of $105. The highest costs to Missourians were mortgages, which cost 41 percent of the state's population an average of $1,121 a month, and rent, which cost 33 percent around $830 a month. Only 12 percent of Missourians were reportedly paying for security and alarms at an average monthly cost of $84.
The report, compiled by researchers with bill payment portal Doxo, also broke data down on a city-by-city basis. Jefferson City ranked No. 31 for most expensive household bills within the state, though its average bill cost of $1,743 per month was still 13 points below the national rate. Residents see around 36 percent of household income go to these expenses on average, the same as the state's rate.
The percentages of Jefferson City residents paying for the most prominent expenses were similar to the state's data: almost all of the top 10 expenses were paid into by similar percentages of each population.
The Capital City ranked No. 2,869 for average household expenses among all 4,276 U.S. cities included in the data.
"This unique view of relative expenses, and how much of household income is required to cover bills in each state, is especially relevant given recent strains on household budgets due to inflation," the report read. "Consumers are indeed feeling the 6 percent year-over-year increase in the amount paid on household bills."
Columbia came in right below Jefferson City at No. 32 for the state with an average of $1,729 a month, while nearby Fulton ranked No. 46 for the state with an average of $1,594. Springfield came in at No. 65 with $1,469, while Kansas City ranked No. 27 with an average of $1,754 and 18th ranked St. Louis had an average of $1,797 spent on household costs a month.
The seven highest-ranked cities in Missouri -- Chesterfield, Wildwood, Lake St. Louis, Lees Summit, Troy, Branson and Ballwin -- all reportedly averaged more than $2,000 a month in household expenses, with highest-ranked Chesterfield the 481st most expensive community for household expenses per the report.
At the other end of the list, bottom-ranked Clinton's residents spent an average $1,276 on household expenses, according to the report, more than 36 percent lower than the national average. It ranked No. 4246 overall.
Hawaii, the most expensive state according to the report, was nearly 45.5 percent over the national average with an average monthly expense per household of $2,911. West Virginia, meanwhile, came in 27.5 percent below the national average with $1,452 typically spent on household bills.
The average U.S. household spends more than $24,000 on bills annually, the report said, around 36 percent of U.S. households' median incomes. That rate increased over the past year by 6 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Another recent report from the same firm found that around 89 percent of Americans had seen a hike in their regular bills over the past decade.
Rising costs have impacted the Mid-Missouri area and the nation as a whole as of late: Other recent studies have pointed to a near 20 percent leap in home values for Cole County over the past year and ranked the Jefferson City metro area at No. 42 nationwide for areas struggling to keep up with inflation over the past decade.
View the full report at doxo.com/insights.