What Americans Are Really Paying in 2026: 9+ Cost Statistics by State

We pulled the real 2026 averages for 7 of every household's biggest recurring costs — home, auto and renters insurance plus electricity, gas, water and internet — across all 50 states and DC. Here's what Americans are actually paying, and how wildly it swings by state.

The headline number

Add it up and a typical U.S. homeowner with a car is paying roughly $760 a month — about $9,122 a year — before a single other bill. For renters it's about $572/month. Most people have no idea whether their slice of that is normal or way too high for their state. That's what the numbers below are for.

9 cost statistics for 2026

• A typical U.S. homeowner with a car pays about $760/month — roughly $9,122/year — just on home + auto insurance and the four core utilities (electricity, gas, water, internet).
• For renters the same basket runs about $572/month ($6,867/year).
• The average American home insurance is $2,543/yr. Florida is the most expensive ($7,136/yr) and Hawaii the cheapest ($659/yr) — a 10.8× gap between states.
• The average American car insurance (full coverage) is $2,513/yr. Louisiana is the most expensive ($4,180/yr) and Vermont the cheapest ($1,504/yr) — a 2.8× gap between states.
• The average American renters insurance is $288/yr. Louisiana is the most expensive ($504/yr) and Wyoming the cheapest ($136/yr) — a 3.7× gap between states.
• The average American electricity bill is $142/mo. Hawaii is the most expensive ($212/mo) and New Mexico the cheapest ($93/mo) — a 2.3× gap between states.
• The average American natural gas bill is $90/mo. Alaska is the most expensive ($141/mo) and Florida the cheapest ($35/mo) — a 4.0× gap between states.
• The average American water bill is $45/mo. West Virginia is the most expensive ($123/mo) and North Carolina the cheapest ($21/mo) — a 5.9× gap between states.
• The average American internet bill is $62/mo. Montana is the most expensive ($99/mo) and Nebraska the cheapest ($44/mo) — a 2.2× gap between states.

Every category, ranked

Want your state specifically? Open any category above, or run the Are You Overpaying? calculator to compare what you pay against your state's average in 5 seconds.

Sources & methodology

Every figure is a published statewide average for 2026 (insurance shown per year, utilities per month). Your own bill depends on your home, usage, provider and profile.

• Insurance.com — Average homeowners insurance rates by state (2026), $300k dwelling coverage
• Insure.com — Average full-coverage car insurance rates by state (2026)
• Insurance.com — Average renters insurance rates by state (2026)
• U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), Electric Sales, Revenue, and Average Price — Table 5.A "2024 Average Monthly Bill - Residential" (data from forms EIA-861; released October 2025). https://www.eia.gov/electricity/sales_revenue_price/pdf/table_5A.pdf — Year: 2024 (latest full-year official data)
• Move.org — "Utility Bills 101: Average Monthly Cost of Utilities by State and Nationally" (2025), https://www.move.org/utility-bills-101/
• LawnStarter, "How Much Is the Average Water Bill in 2026?" (2025-2026 residential water cost study; same dataset mirrored verbatim by World Population Review "Water Prices by State"). Washington, D.C. is not covered by that study, so its figure is the average residential water-only monthly bill from utility-rates.com / DC Water (2026). Note: the national average shown here is the simple mean of the 51 per-state figures (~$45), consistent with the per-state table and with DataPandas's $41.52 reading of the same LawnStarter data; LawnStarter's separately quoted "$78" is a family-of-four heavy-usage scenario (100 gal/person/day), not the average typical bill. Primary URL: https://www.lawnstarter.com/blog/cost/average-water-bill-price/
• Move.org — "Utility Bills 101: Average Monthly Cost of Utilities by State and Nationally" (Internet column), 2026. https://www.move.org/utility-bills-101/