A new report found that Brownsville and McAllen residents pay less when it comes to their monthly bills than the national average and spend nearly half a household’s income doing so.
On average, McAllen residents spend $1,904 per month on household bills — nearly 5% lower than the national average of $2,003 per month.
Brownsville residents, however, on average spend $1,385 per month on those same bills. That’s 30.8% lower than the national average.
The figures were released last week as part of a report issued by Doxo, a bill payment service that ranked the 50 largest U.S. cities by how much their residents spent on household bills.
Coming out on top as the most expensive was San Jose, California, where residents reportedly spend $3,248 a month on bills, or 62.2% higher than the national average.
The least expensive was the city of Detroit, whose residents spend an average of $1,634 per month, which is 18.4% lower than the national average.
If McAllen were included in the list of 50 biggest cities in the U.S., it would have ranked below Minneapolis, whose residents have an average monthly payment of $1,910, but above Pittsburgh, where residents spend an average of $1,891 in household payments.
The study calculated how much residents spent by factoring in the most common bills such as housing — rent or mortgage — car loans, car insurance, utilities, health insurance, cable and internet, life insurance, alarm and security measure, and others.
The “other” category includes expenses such as credit card payments, taxes, and non-recurring payments, like health care lab expenses and toll roads.
The report stated it included data from more than 7 million customers, 97% of U.S. zip codes, all income brackets, more than 120,000 unique billers, and all payment funding sources, such as bank accounts, credit cards and debit cards.
It also offers a look into how much of a household’s salary goes towards making those monthly payments.
For McAllen residents, 49% of a household income was used to pay those bills, according to the report.
For those in Brownsville, the monthly bills accounted for 46% of household income, the report stated.
In San Jose, which ranked the most expensive of the 50 largest cities, the average monthly bill payments accounted for only 36% of household income.
More detailed information on the monthly bills in each city can be found at www.doxo.com/insights/regional-bill-comparison/.
