Hawai‘i: Most Expensive Utilities in America

Nobody likes paying utility bills. They pop up each month and keep you from putting your paycheck toward more exciting areas of your budget, like your vacation fund or that cheese of the month club you’ve always wanted to join.

No matter what you’re saving for, utility bills are a burden we all have to bear. But which states’ residents bear the largest burden?

A recent study by Move.org crunched the numbers so you can see how the average monthly utility costs in your state stack up against the rest.

Hawai‘i tops the list of states with the highest average utility cost: $730.86 per month. Compare that to Idaho, which has the lowest average cost at $343.71. That’s a $387.15 difference.

The Aloha State’s utilities are upward of $200 more than the second most expensive state, Alaska, thanks largely to staggeringly high electricity and natural gas costs on the islands.

Factors Move.org considered

• To calculate electricity and natural gas costs, they multiplied average national consumption rates by the average cost for these services in each state—individual bills may vary depending on actual usage.
• When determining internet costs, they looked at a service level that included speeds of 60 Mbps, unlimited data, and Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL).
• State-by-state information was unavailable for cable and water, so they used the national averages to supply those figures for each state.

You can learn more about the ranking criteria in the methodology section