How does New Jersey Household Expenses compare to the rest of USA

In New Jersey, the Cost of Living Expenses for residents has always been a debated topic for years during political campaigns.  But what do the numbers say about how New Jersey compares to other states?

The payment network doxoINSIGHTS recently published reports on their website about how much money each of the 50 United States spends on their Household Bills. They calculate the average costs for Americans paying for bills such as mortgage and rent payments, car payments, insurance costs, utility and phone bills, along with other common monthly costs.

Even though the average American household pays $24,557 per year on Household Bills, the state of New Jersey is the third most expensive state for Household Expenses, only behind Hawaii and California.  New Jersey residents pay $8,165 more per year than the average American Household on their bills ($32,722 as of August 2023).  On average, New Jersey residents pay around $700 more per month in overall bills compared to the national average and the only regular month expense Jersey residents pay less than the national average for is Health Insurance ($3 less per month than the national average).

New Jersey residents pay approximately $144 more per year compared to the national average for each of the following household bills: Cable, Internet, and Phone bills. The most extreme differential in household expenses for New Jersey is Mortgage Payments and Utility Bills. Residents of the Garden State pay approximately $11,892 more per year for their Mortgage compared to the National Average and $1,392 more per year for Utility bills compared to the National Average.

The flip side of this gross cost of household expenses is New Jersey has the highest average Household Income in the United States at $92,374 per year.  Of course, most people do not make that much money: According to the US Census Bureau, the Real Median Household Income in the United States was $70,784 in 2021, in part because the National Median Earnings Increased by 4.6 Percent.

The good news is that for South Jersey residents, those living in Cape May, Cumberland, and Atlantic Counties all are outside the top 15 most expensive counties to live in this state:

*Cape May County Household Average Monthly Expenses are $2,369 ($323 more per month than the National Household Bills Average); Cape May County Median Household Income is $76,237
*Cumberland County Household Average Monthly Expenses are $2,312 ($266 more per month than the National Household Bills Average); Cumberland County Median Household Income is $58,397
*Atlantic County Household Average Monthly Expenses are $2,300 ($254 more per month than the National Household Bills Average); Atlantic County Median Household Income is $66,473