Geneva the 214th-most expensive city in NY
This article originally appeared on Finger Lakes Times
By LOUISE HOFFMAN BROACH
GENEVA — Doxo, a third-party billing service that enables consumers to manage all their bills in one location, has named Geneva the 214th-most expensive place to live in New York.
Doxo’s recently released report, “U.S. Utilities Market Size and Household Spending Report for 2023,” examines how much Americans spend on utility bills (electric, gas, water and sewer, and waste and recycling).
Utility bills in Geneva average $385 per month, which is just a dollar more than the state average. Nationally, people pay $351 a month for those services.
Doxo’s cost-of-living data shows the average Geneva household pays $1,789 per month, or $21,466 per year, for the 10 most common household bills that include housing, car payments, and most utilities. This makes Geneva the 214th-most expensive community in New York.
The cost of living in Geneva is 12.6% lower than the national average of $2,046 per month, and 28.3% lower than the state average of $2,495. Geneva households spend 39% of their $66,852 yearly average income on household bills.
Other local communities noted in Doxo’s survey were: Canandaigua at 195th, Penn Yan at 202th, and Newark at 224th. No information was listed for any locations in Seneca County. Doxo said they do not have enough subscribers there to have an accurate measure.
As a county, Wayne was ranked 26th-most expensive, Ontario 44th, and Yates 51st.
The most expensive place to live in New York, according to Doxo, is the Westchester County coastal city of Rye. Residents there pay an average of $3,750 per month for household bills, which is 83.3% higher than the national average. However, because average income in Rye measures just over $110,000 a year, the expenses come out to be 22% of what those who live there earn.
The cheapest place to live in New York? That would be Jamestown, Chautauqua County. Ranked 245th in Doxo’s survey, residents there pay an average of $1,457 for monthly bills. But with average income of $48,787, that works out to 41%. The cost of living may be low, but so are the wages. In nearby Dunkirk, ranked 242nd, residents pay a whopping 46% of their income, which was listed as the same as Jamestown’s, on monthly expenses.