Not all utility bills are created equal. Across the United States, different homes in different regions pay wildly divergent rates for basics like electricity, natural gas, and water. Trulia recently teamed up with UtilityScore to uncover the facts about utility costs, discovering that utility bills can take up nearly half of a household’s monthly housing costs.
Of course, that’s not the national norm. The report found that those living in single-family U.S. homes spend a median amount of $2,715 a year ($226 a month) on their utilities. Georgia’s utility bills are the highest out of any other state, with a median cost of $4,347 a year. Per square foot, Georgia’s high prices as eclipsed by those in Hawaii, which cost a median of $2.57 per square foot as compared to Georgia’s $2.48 per square foot.
El Paso, Texas, was the city with the lowest median utility bills in the country at just $1,818 a year or $1.28 per square foot.
While the report’s researchers expected to find a link between climate and utility costs, the data showed that this wasn’t the case. Rather, prices depended primarily on rates set by local service providers.
Via: Construction Dive