North Coast households — from Encinitas, Solana Beach and Del Mar to Carlsbad and Oceanside — paid significantly more on monthly bills such as mortgages and rents compared with national averages, according to statistics released Feb. 2 by bill-management platform doxo.

The data, published through the Seattle-based company’s doxoINSIGHTS, looked at more than 4,000 towns and cities in the United States and broke down bill payments into 10 categories such as utilities, auto loans, cable bills, mortgages, rents and more. The statistics were built based on users of doxo’s bill-paying platforms.

“This data is particularly interesting as Americans continue to weather economic uncertainty due to the pandemic, inflation, etc.,” doxoINSIGHTS Director Liz Powell stated in a media announcement.

While households in cities such as Del Mar and Carlsbad paid more for their monthly bills, the ratio of those bills to household income was smaller, doxo found. Oceanside’s comparison to doxo’s national average was smaller, but the ratio of bills to household income was nearly 50%. That number was 45% for Escondido.

Households in these coastal North San Diego County communities spent about 50% to 70% more than national averages on monthly bills:

Del Mar — 72.7% higher than doxoINSIGHT’s national average; $3,459 per month; 30% of household income.
Carlsbad — 69.6% higher than the national average; $3,396 per month; 37% of household income.
Solana Beach — 56.2% higher; $3,129 per month; 36% of household income.
Encinitas — 47.1% higher; $2,946 per month; 31% of household income.
Oceanside — 31.9% higher; $2,642 per month; 48% of household income.

Inland North County households were also higher than the national average:

Valley Center — 46.3% higher than doxoINSIGHT’s national average; $2,931 per month; 42% of household income.
San Marcos — 31.6% higher; $2,635 per month; 42% of household income.
Escondido — 28.7% higher; $2,578 per month; 45% of household income.
Fallbrook — 26.7% higher; $2,537 per month; 44% of household income.
Vista — 26% higher; $2,522 per month; 44% of household income.

According to doxo’s statistics, Americans on average pay $1,368 for mortgages and $1,129 for rents per month.

“Americans spend $3.12 trillion annually across the ten most common household bill categories. This figure makes up nearly one quarter of all U.S. consumer spending,” doxo stated in the release of its report. “The report found that the average U.S. household spends $24,032 per year on bills.”

Results for specific communities throughout the nation can be found by searching www.doxo.com/insights/regional-bill-comparison/.

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