Here are the states with the highest housing and grocery bills

These are the states with the highest grocery and housing bills in the country.

(Image credit: iStock)

published 14 October 2016

Household budgets and spending vary greatly from state to state. You'll likely spend a lot more on housing in New Jersey than you would in West Virginia — more than twice as much, in fact, according to data from the Commerce Department on 2015 consumer spending. New Jerseyans spent $9,482 per capita on housing and utilities on average, compared to Mountain State locals' $4,573 average bill. The crown, however, goes to District of Columbia residents, who dished out a whopping $10,569 per person for those living expenses.

As for food shopping, the nation's highest grocery bills are in Vermont, where per capita spending on food and beverages last year was $4,196. That's almost twice the level in Oklahoma, where per capita grocery spending was $2,282. For health care, D.C. wins (or loses?) again at $11,021 on average per person, compared to a state like Utah, where folks spend just $4,796 each a year.