Average Utility Bill Statistics (2026)

The average US household spent $4,931 on utilities, fuels and public services in 2025, according to the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey, released October 29, 2026. That works out to about $411 a month (a Walnut calculation from the annual figure). The category covers electricity, natural gas, heating oil and other fuels, landline and cell phone service, and water, sewer and trash collection. Internet service is not broken out as its own line.

Utility spending rose 4.1% in 2025, from $4,736 in 2024, and is up 16.8% since 2021, when it was $4,223. It accounted for 6.0% of the $81,905 the average household spent in 2025.

These are averages across all 138 million US households, including those that do not buy a given utility, so they are not the bill a particular customer receives. The per-customer figures below, such as EIA's average electric bill, are the better guide to a single monthly bill.

Electricity is the biggest utility cost, at $1,886 per household in 2025, about $157 a month. Cell phone service came second at $1,390, then water and other public services at $883 and natural gas at $562. Fuel oil and other fuels averaged $129, and landline and internet phone service $82 (BLS).

Natural gas looks small in this data because only about 45% of homes heat with it (a Walnut calculation from EIA's household counts), while the average spreads its cost over every household. For homes that heat with gas, the winter bill alone is several times higher (see below).

The average US residential electric bill was $142.26 a month in 2024, according to the US Energy Information Administration, or about $1,707 a year. The average home used 863 kilowatt-hours a month and paid 16.48 cents per kWh. EIA calculates the figure by dividing residential revenue by the number of customers, 143.1 million in 2024, and by 12.

The average bill rose 4.0% in 2024 and 24.8% from $114.03 in 2015 (Walnut calculations from EIA data). The increase came from price, not usage: the average price per kWh rose 30.3% over those nine years while monthly use per customer fell 4.2%, from 901 kWh to 863 kWh.

The BLS household survey puts electricity spending higher, at $1,886 a year in 2025, about $157 a month. The two measure different things. EIA's figure is for 2024 and divides by residential customer accounts, while the BLS figure is for 2025 and is reported by households.

Hawaii has the highest electric bills in the country, at $212.12 a month in 2024, even though its homes use less electricity than any other state's (495 kWh a month). The bill is driven by price: 42.86 cents per kWh, more than two and a half times the national average (EIA Table 5a). Connecticut was second at $199.66 and Alabama third at $173.50.

Alabama shows the other route to a high bill. Its price is below average at 15.18 cents, but homes use 1,143 kWh a month. Louisiana has the highest usage of any state, 1,202 kWh, and its bill ($140.96) is still below average because its price is among the lowest at 11.73 cents.

New Mexico had the lowest average bill, $92.88, followed by Utah ($94.57) and Colorado ($100.57). California homes use the least electricity on the mainland, 503 kWh a month, but pay $160.86 because of a 31.97-cent price, second only to Hawaii. North Dakota, Idaho and Nebraska had the lowest prices, each about 11.5 cents per kWh. Texas, with 12.5 million residential customers, averaged $163.72.

Electricity prices are rising faster than general inflation. From January to August 2026, the average US residential price was 18.19 cents per kWh, up 6.8% from 17.03 cents in the same months of 2025 (EIA Electric Power Monthly). The 2025 annual average was 17.23 cents, and the 2026 monthly high so far was 18.86 cents in April.

EIA's October 2026 Short-Term Energy Outlook forecasts an average of 18.2 cents per kWh for 2026 and 18.7 cents for 2027. EIA notes that residential prices include other expenses such as upgrades to transmission and distribution. In the annual series, the price rose from 12.55 cents in 2016 to 17.23 cents in 2025 (EIA Table 5.3).

By state, the highest August 2026 prices were in Hawaii (47.18 cents), Maine (32.11), Massachusetts (30.48) and California (29.75). The lowest were Nevada (12.72), Louisiana (12.87), and North Dakota and Utah (13.31 each). Connecticut was a rare decline, from 30.17 cents in August 2025 to 24.51 cents.

EIA's Winter Fuels Outlook forecasts that a household heating mainly with natural gas will spend $640 from October 2026 through March 2027, 9% less than last winter. Gas-heated homes in the Northeast are expected to spend $879, the Midwest $613, the West $590 and the South $511.

Heating with electricity is forecast to cost $1,196 for the winter, up 4%, and with propane $1,246, down 3%. Heating oil is the most expensive at $2,115, up 21%, because of higher global crude oil and distillate prices; the heating oil price is forecast at $5.26 a gallon, up 34%.

Natural gas and electricity heat most homes. EIA counts 61.0 million households heating mainly with natural gas and 57.9 million with electricity in 2026, against 6.4 million with propane and 4.1 million with heating oil.

The average US residential natural gas price was $15.34 per thousand cubic feet in 2025, up 5.8% from $14.50 in 2024 and 42.3% from $10.78 in 2020 (EIA). Prices vary more by state than for electricity. Hawaii's was $52.38, then Florida at $25.48, Massachusetts at $25.06, California at $22.01 and Georgia at $20.42.

The cheapest gas was in Idaho ($7.69), Montana ($8.99), North Dakota ($9.50), New Mexico ($9.83) and South Dakota ($9.86). Monthly prices run much higher in summer, $27.05 in August 2026, because fixed charges are spread over very little gas, so summer prices should not be compared with annual averages.

In EIA's last full survey of household energy spending, homes that used natural gas spent an average of $630 a year on it in 2020, and homes using electricity spent $1,380. Total household energy spending averaged $1,884, highest in the Northeast ($2,263) and lowest in the West ($1,653) (EIA RECS 2020). ENERGY STAR now puts household energy bills at more than $2,200 a year, with nearly half going to heating and cooling.

The EPA's WaterSense program says the average family spends more than $1,000 a year on water costs and can save more than $380 a year by retrofitting with WaterSense and ENERGY STAR products. A WaterSense-labeled toilet alone can save the average family 13,000 gallons and $130 a year.

The American Water Works Association's most recent public national figure is an average 2022 residential water bill of $45.09 a month for 7,500 gallons. At 6,000 gallons the average was $38.53, and at 4,500 gallons $32.28. Those figures cover water only; wastewater is billed separately in most places, and AWWA's newer averages are available only on its paid rate platform.

In the BLS survey, households spent $883 on water and other public services in 2025, which includes sewer and trash collection, up from $695 in 2021, or about $74 a month by a Walnut calculation (BLS).

The average American family uses more than 300 gallons of water a day at home, about 70% of it indoors, according to the EPA. Each person uses an average of 82 gallons a day at home. Outdoor watering accounts for more than 30% of household use on average and as much as 60% in dry regions.

The EPA estimates the average family can waste 180 gallons a week, or 9,400 gallons a year, from household leaks, and that leaks across the country waste nearly 900 billion gallons a year, equal to the annual water use of nearly 11 million homes.

No federal agency publishes an average monthly internet bill. The figure most often quoted comes from BroadbandNow, a broadband comparison site, which put the average at $81.16 a month, or about $973 a year, in April 2026. It is an average of advertised prices for internet-only plans across more than 2,100 providers, not a measure of what households actually pay after promotions, bundles and equipment fees.

By the same source, Alaska had the most expensive average plan at $109.88 a month and New Jersey the cheapest at $65.43, followed by Connecticut ($65.50) and New Hampshire ($66.09). In a separate BroadbandNow survey of 954 adults in March 2026, one in four said they were paying more for home internet than a year earlier.

Government price data shows internet costs barely moving. The BLS consumer price index for internet services rose 0.2% in the 12 months to September 2026 and fell 0.5% on an annual-average basis in 2025 (BLS CPI). The BLS spending survey does not report internet service as a separate line.

Of 132.7 million US households, 93.2% had a broadband subscription of some kind in 2024, according to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (Table B28002; shares are Walnut calculations from the counts). 76.5% had cable, fiber or DSL service, 12.6% relied only on a cellular data plan, and 4.5% had no internet access at all. New Hampshire had the highest broadband share (95.3%) and Mississippi the lowest (88.3%).

Pew Research Center found that 78% of adults have home broadband, ranging from 54% of those with incomes under $30,000 to 94% of those with $100,000 or more. Sixteen percent of adults are smartphone-dependent, with a smartphone and no home broadband, rising to 34% of lower-income adults (Pew Research Center).

Federal help with internet bills shrank in 2024. The FCC ended the Affordable Connectivity Program on June 1, 2024; over 23 million households were enrolled when it stopped taking applications. The remaining Lifeline program offers a $9.25 monthly discount on broadband for eligible households.

US households spent an average of $1,390 on cell phone service in 2025, about $116 a month, according to the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey. That figure is per household, not per line, and covers every phone on a family plan. Cellular spending is up 11.7% since 2021, when it was $1,244.

Landline spending has halved. Households spent $82 on residential phone service, internet calling and phone cards in 2025, half the $165 of 2021. Total telephone spending, both types together, was $1,472, or about $123 a month.

The BLS index for wireless telephone services fell on an annual-average basis in every year from 2022 to 2025, then rose 3.2% in the 12 months to September 2026. US mobile data use reached 159.3 trillion megabytes in 2025, 20% more than the year before, according to CTIA's 2026 annual survey (summarized by the Benton Institute).

Most Americans no longer have a landline. In the second half of 2024, 78.7% of adults, about 205 million people, and 86.9% of children lived in households with at least one cell phone and no landline, according to the CDC's National Health Interview Survey. The share of wireless-only adults rose 2.7 percentage points in a year.

The share varies most by age. About 88% to 89% of adults aged 25 to 44 live in wireless-only homes, against 79.0% of those 45 to 64 and 57.9% of those 65 and older. Renters (88.1%) are more likely than homeowners (74.0%) to have dropped the landline, and the Northeast (65.6%) trails the South (81.4%).

Most utility prices are rising faster than inflation. In the 12 months to September 2026, consumer prices overall rose 3.7%, while electricity rose 4.4%, piped natural gas 5.0%, water, sewer and trash collection 4.8% and trash collection alone 5.2% (BLS CPI). Fuel oil jumped 74.2%. Wireless phone service rose 3.2% and internet service 0.2%.

Water, sewer and trash bills have the steadiest climb: their index rose at least 3.2% every year from 2018 through 2025, and 38.3% in total from 2017 to 2025. The electricity index rose 38.1% over the same period, including 13.1% in 2022 alone, against 31.3% for all items. Piped gas is the most volatile, up 25.8% in 2022, down 7.2% in 2023 and up 11.4% in 2025. The wireless phone index fell 4.8% from 2017 to 2025 (Walnut calculations from BLS annual index averages).

Higher-income households spend more on utilities in dollars but far less as a share of their budget. The top fifth of households by income spent $6,807 on utilities in 2025, 2.2 times the $3,134 spent by the bottom fifth, according to BLS data by income. But utilities took 8.3% of the bottom fifth's spending and only 4.3% of the top fifth's.

The gap is largest for electricity and phones in share terms. Electricity was 3.5% of spending for the lowest-income households and 1.6% for the highest. In dollars, the highest-income fifth spent $1,886 on cell service and $1,293 on water and public services, against $759 and $509 for the lowest.

Utility spending peaks in middle age. Households headed by someone aged 45 to 54 spent $5,766 on utilities in 2025, the most of any age group, followed by ages 55 to 64 ($5,541) and 35 to 44 ($5,284) (BLS). Households under 25 spent $2,552.

Households 65 and older spent $4,680, including $1,781 on electricity and $900 on water and public services. Their phone spending drops more than any other bill: $1,069 a year on cell service for those 65 and older, and $857 for those 75 and older, against $1,766 for households aged 45 to 54.

About a third of US homes, 43.6 million or 32.9%, reported some form of energy insecurity in 2024, according to EIA's Residential Energy Consumption Survey. That included 32.9 million households (24.8%) that cut back on or went without food or medicine to pay energy bills, 17.6 million (13.2%) that kept their home at an unhealthy temperature and 16.2 million (12.2%) that received a disconnection or delivery stop notice.

Energy insecurity falls steeply with income: 63.7% of households with income under $10,000 reported it, against 7.5% of those with $200,000 or more. By region it was highest in the South (35.4%) and lowest in the Midwest (29.9%).

The Department of Energy defines a household spending 6% or more of income on energy as having a high energy burden. It estimates the national average burden for low-income households at 6%, three times the 2% for other households. ACEEE found that a quarter of low-income households spend more than 15% of their income on energy bills (ACEEE, 2024).

Utilities take about $411 a month from the average household, and the largest pieces, electricity and water, are rising faster than overall prices in 2026. Location alone moves the average electric bill by about $119 a month, from $92.88 in New Mexico to $212.12 in Hawaii.

For people who track household spending alongside savings in a brokerage account, Walnut, an AI investing app, can read a connected account to show how those investments are doing. The statistics on this page describe what households pay for utilities; they are not a recommendation on any provider or plan.