Here’s which bills the new child tax credit could cover for Wichita families
Household members in Wichita pay more in average monthly bills than families elsewhere in Kansas or across the country, according to an online bill pay service.
The data from Doxo comes as the Internal Revenue Service begins to roll out the new child tax credit to families on Thursday this week.
Included in the American Rescue Plan Act (known as the COVID-19 relief bill signed into law in March), the child tax credit will qualify certain households for $3,600 annually per child under age 6, and $3,000 per child between the ages of 6 and 17 years old.
Doxo used its data to analyze how much the new child tax credit might help families in different cities and states save on regular household bills.
With monthly payments of up to $300 per child, the credit could pay for most of the month’s utility bills for the average Wichita family. Or instead, it could also cover both an average monthly mobile phone bill and an auto insurance payment in Wichita.
The average monthly cost of bills in Wichita is $1,055, according to Doxo — 3.8% higher than the national average of $1,016 per month. The Wichita average is about 21.6% of a household’s income and is the fourth highest of average monthly bill payments among other Kansas cities and towns.
The only cities in Kansas with higher average monthly bills are Great Bend, Winfield and Salina, according to the Doxo report. Statewide, Kansans average about $988 per month in household bills.
The costs include common non-housing monthly bills: auto loans, auto insurance, utilities (such as water, gas and electric), health insurance, life insurance, cable internet and phone, mobile phone and more.
The ranking of each average bill cost often depends on the type of bill.
The data show that in Wichita, households pay an average of $131 per month for auto insurance. That’s cheaper than the average of $148 per month across Kansas and $185 per month across the U.S.
But Wichitans do tend to pay more than the Kansas and national average for utility payments. The average utility costs in Wichita are $330 per month, while the monthly average sits at $314 statewide and $316 nationwide.
Households in Wichita also pay more on average in mobile phone bills, at $170 per month. The Kansas average is $101 per month and the national average is $102 per month on mobile phone bills.
To offer insight into average monthly household bills, Doxo uses anonymized data from its customers paying bills online.
