New findings released today from doxo reveal that despite cooling inflation and a relatively stable economy, American sentiment towards their own financial health remains bleak. doxoINSIGHTS’ new report, Consumer Sentiment Towards Paying Bills in the New Year, shows that while 65% of Americans are feeling somewhat relieved by an improving economy, 70% are still worried about their financial health in the new year. The report analyzes consumer attitudes toward their past and future financial health, how Americans feel about the state of the economy, and their ability to pay household bills heading into this new year.
The average American household spent roughly $2,046 per month last year on bills, or $24,557 annually, (35% of the U.S. household median income of $70,784). Inflation impacted the cost of groceries in particular, with costs across the entire grocery category rising more than 6% from this time last year, according to Datasembly’s Grocery Price Index.
“Signs like a hot job market and cooling inflation are pointing to an improving economy, with 2/3 of Americans saying they’re at least somewhat relieved by these economic indicators. However, households are still rebounding, and in many cases will take six months or more to rebound, from recent volatility,” said Liz Powell, Senior Director of INSIGHTS at doxo. “In addition to the impact that rising grocery bills had on consumers in the last year, utilities remain at the top of the list of bills that Americans are most concerned about being able to pay, for the second year running.”
Key findings from the Consumer Sentiment Towards Paying Bills in the New Year report include:
Looking Back: Financial Health in 2023
- 82% of consumers found it hard to stay on top of household bills due to the rising cost of groceries over the past year
- 65% of consumers received a salary increase of 1% or less over the past year
- 74% of consumers made changes to their spending and savings habits over the past year
Looking Forward: Financial Health in 2024
- 65% of consumers feel at least somewhat relieved that inflation appears to be cooling
- 70% of consumers are worried about their financial health as they head into the new year
- 60% of consumers said it would take more than six months until their own household’s financial health improves
Paying Bills in the New Year
- Utilities top the list of household bills that consumers are most concerned about paying in the future. The percentage of people concerned about being able to pay the ten most common household bills include the following:
- Utilities: 58%
- Auto Insurance: 50%
- Cable & Internet: 46%
- Mobile Phone: 45%
- Health Insurance: 41%
- Auto Loan: 28%
- Mortgage: 27%
- Rent: 24%
- Alarm & Security: 21%
- 85% of consumers are just as worried or more worried about their ability to pay their household bills as they were last year
- 58% of consumers believe that they could only pay their bills for 3 months without their household’s primary source of income
For more information, or to view the full findings of the report, please visit: https://www.doxo.com/insights.
About doxoINSIGHTS
doxoINSIGHTS provides direct insight into household financial health and spending activity by leveraging consumer surveys and doxo’s unique aggregate bill pay data set, comprising actual bill payment activity to confirmed household service providers across the country. doxo data brings together the broadest available data set for analyzing actual household bill payment activity, pulling from over 8 million paying consumers across over 97% of U.S. zip codes. doxo’s payment network covers over 120,000 billers in 45 different service categories and enables payments using bank accounts, credit cards or debit cards. This uniquely broad statistical foundation powers doxoINSIGHTS reports – uncovering key trends for household financial health and bill payment behavior.
About doxo
doxo delivers innovation that transforms the bill pay experience for consumers, billers and financial technology providers. For over 8M consumers, doxo’s all-in-one bill pay makes it simple to organize and pay any bill on any device through a secure checkout. For billers, doxo’s network-driven platform enables online and mobile payments with a ridiculously simple integration, radically lower costs, and game-changing features that are unavailable with legacy bill pay vendors. For fintech partners, doxo delivers financial innovations to consumers across 97% of US Zip Codes, paying from more than 5,000 financial institutions to over 120,000 billers in 45+ service categories. For employees, doxo is a creative, ever-learning team that is passionate about building fintech tools that dramatically improve the bill pay experience. For investors, doxo provides an extraordinary opportunity to invest alongside Jackson Square Ventures, MDV, and Bezos Expeditions to disrupt a market that accounts for over $4T of US Household spend. To learn more about America’s leading bill pay network, visit doxo.com.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240111105833/en/