Charlotte is one of the 25 most expensive cities in North Carolina in terms of household expenses, a new study says. And Charlotteans’ average monthly bills also outpace the national average, according to the same study.
“The average Charlotte household pays $2,190 a month, or $26,286 a year for the 10 most common household bills,” including mortgage or rent, utilities and insurance, the bill-pay service doxo said.
The study “relies on anonymized data from its (eight million) customers paying more than 120,000 billers,” according to the group. Here’s what to know about how Charlotte’s cost of living stacks up, plus the latest on how inflation is impacting North Carolinians’ expenses.
How does Charlotte’s cost of living compare to the rest of NC and the US?
“On average,” doxo said in a statement announcing their findings, household expenses in Charlotte “are seven percent higher than the national average of $2,046, and 14.5 percent higher than the state average of $1,913.” That puts Charlotte as “the No. 22 most expensive city in North Carolina for household expenses.”
Average monthly payments for Charlotte households, per doxo, include $247 for utilities, $364 for multiple types of insurance, $479 for a car payment and $227 for cable, internet and mobile phone services. The average household in the city spends “37 percent of their income on household bills,” the company said.
What’s inflation doing?
A major drain on North Carolinians’ pocketbooks in the last year has been rates of inflation. Although inflation levels are down from the peak levels seen last summer, some numbers are still not where economic leaders want them, the Associated Press reported.
“A key index of U.S. prices ticked higher in April, and consumer spending rebounded, a sign that inflationary pressures in the economy remain high,” the AP said in late May.
“Bottom line, plain and simple, the medical examination system is in crisis,” the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services secretary says.
“The index, which the Federal Reserve closely monitors, showed that prices rose 0.4 percent from March to April. That was much higher than the 0.1 percent rise the previous month. Measured year over year, prices increased 4.4 percent in April, up from 4.2 percent in March. The year-over-year figure is down sharply from a seven percent peak last June but remains far above the Fed’s two percent target.”
To use doxo’s data comparison tool to compare household expenses across various states and cities, visit here.
This article appears courtesy of our media partner The Charlotte Observer.