Utility cost tool · Methodology
How we estimate average utility bills by city
WealthSpott publishes city-level monthly averages for residential electricity, natural gas, water and sewer, broadband internet, and trash or recycling pickup—plus a combined total. The same figures power our interactive map and per-city pages.
Download the full dataset (CSV)
One row per city, all columns documented below. Suitable for analysis, charts, and newsroom fact-checking. Please cite WealthSpott and link to the tool when you publish.
Download CSVEmbed the interactive tool
Paste this iframe into your blog or news CMS. The map and ranked table stay interactive; “full breakdown” opens our site in a new tab. Please keep attribution visible (the embed includes a WealthSpott link).
<iframe src="https://www.wealthspott.com/embed/utility-costs" title="Average utility costs by U.S. city — WealthSpott" width="100%" height="920" style="border:0;border-radius:12px;max-width:1100px" loading="lazy" ></iframe>
Preview: Open embed page
What the numbers represent
- Electricity — typical monthly residential electric bill for a single-family benchmark (see assumptions).
- Gas — natural gas for heating and hot water where applicable; in many warm-climate cities gas can be minimal or not used.
- Water — water and sewer combined where that is how municipalities bill.
- Internet — residential broadband (roughly mid-tier speed; market pricing varies).
- Trash — curbside trash and recycling where billed separately. In some cities trash is funded by taxes (noted in per-city notes when relevant).
- Total — sum of the five components above for that city row (missing components treated as zero in the stored total where applicable).
Sources and approach
Estimates are built from public and industry-typical inputs, including federal energy and expenditure benchmarks (e.g. EIA residential sales and degree-day context), BLS Consumer Expenditure patterns, and market-level ISP pricing surveys. We align city rows to a consistent benchmark home so cities are comparable—then adjust for climate and regional pricing where data supports it.
Each row includes a data_quarter label (for example Q1 2026) indicating the editorial vintage of that snapshot. We refresh periodically; the CSV export always reflects the current database at download time.
Key assumptions
- Benchmark assumes a typical detached or attached single-family home (on the order of ~1,800 sq ft), not a studio apartment or a large estate.
- Usage and rates vary by household; our figures are averages for comparison, not a prediction of your bill.
- City boundaries are metro-oriented labels for major places; they are not census PUMA-level microdata.
Limitations
- Actual bills depend on insulation, thermostat habits, household size, rate plans, and local fees.
- Some services are bundled or tax-funded; per-city notes in the CSV call out common cases (e.g. trash included in city services).
- We cover a fixed set of major cities in the tool—not every US municipality.
CSV column reference
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| city_slug | URL-safe slug; matches /tools/utility-costs/[slug] |
| city_name | Display name of the city |
| state_name | State (or DC) full name |
| state_code | Two-letter code |
| lat, lng | Approximate coordinates for map placement |
| population | Reference population when available |
| *_monthly_usd | Estimated average monthly bill in USD for that category |
| total_monthly_usd | Sum of the five utility components for that row |
| data_quarter | Editorial snapshot period for that row |
| notes | Free-text caveats (e.g. trash via taxes) |
| tool_page_url | Canonical WealthSpott page for this city |
| exported_at_utc | ISO timestamp when this CSV was generated |
Suggested citation
WealthSpott, “Average utility bills by city,” interactive tool and dataset, https://www.wealthspott.com/tools/utility-costs, accessed April 10, 2026.
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