How Much Is the Average Cell Phone Bill per Month?

Q: How much does the average American spend on a phone plan?

The average U.S. cell phone bill is approximately $141 to $157 per month as of 2025-2026. This totals nearly $1,700 to $2,000 per year, though costs vary significantly between single-line users and multi-line family plans.

Q: How much time do Americans spend on a phone?

The average American spends approximately 4 hours and 30 minutes to 5 hours and 16 minutes on their phone daily. This adds up to over 70 days per year spent looking at a mobile screen.

Q: What is the cheapest cell phone plan per month on average?

The cheapest cell phone plans typically range from $10 to $15 per month. Some providers offer talk-and-text only plans for as low as $5 to $8 per month when paid annually, and budget-friendly MVNOs often provide unlimited talk and text with limited data in this price range.

Q: How much is a new cell phone on average?

While premium smartphones often exceed $900, the average global selling price for a smartphone is projected to be around $370 to $383 in 2025-2026. In the United States, average costs have historically been higher, with 2023 data showing an average of $718.28.

Angelo Ilumba Senior Writer

Updated 06 February 2026

The average U.S. phone bill is around $157 per month for a cell phone plan, which adds up to nearly $2,000 per year—and about half of Americans are unhappy about it. WhistleOut recently sent out a survey to discover what the average phone plan looks like, how much people are paying, and what they would rather be paying.

What does the average American phone plan looks like?

What exactly are people paying for when it comes to phone plans?

About 79% of those surveyed have unlimited talk and text.
72% have unlimited data.
60% have mobile hotspot included in their plans.

Only 30% of respondents are paying for a single line, which helps to explain why about 62% are paying over $100 for their plan—no single-line plan in America costs more than $100/month.

The major carriers (AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon) continue to dominate the mobile market, providing service to 63% of those surveyed. Though 5G is relatively new, 58% of plans include coverage with the new network technology.

Are Americans satisfied with their phone plans?

What do Americans dislike about their current phone plans?

44% of survey respondents experience spotty coverage, making it the top complaint about U.S. phone plans.
37% say that their data is too slow
26% are unsatisfied with their plan's allotment of mobile hotspot data.

If these frustrations sound familiar, you're not alone. Of those surveyed, 38% claim they are planning to switch phone plans in 2022.

How have phone plan prices change over the years?

According to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), phone rates increased steadily between 2013 and 2020, with an average year-over-year increase of 4.7%. Using the trend line from the BLS data, we estimate that the current average phone plan costs about $114/month or $1,371/year.

Where are the price increases coming from? The major carriers' advertised prices have remained relatively stable for several years. However, price increases may hide in higher administrative fees or changes to grandfathered plans. For instance, Verizon customers experienced a fee increase recently, and some AT&T customers noticed their older plans now have higher monthly rates.

Your first phone bill is usually even higher

Because of one-time charges like activation fees, government taxes and surcharges, and delayed promotional bill credits, your first cell phone bill can be anywhere from $50 to $100 higher than the typical monthly cost you can expect to see. Learn which charges to look for on your first bill and how to keep your costs as low as possible.

Do Americans think they are paying too much for phone service?

Nearly half of our survey respondents think they are paying too much for cell phone service, and a whopping 73% worry that phone rates will only get higher. Phone bills can range from as low as $15/month to as high as $ 100+/month.

So, what do Americans want to pay? With the average single-line phone plan costing about $76/month:

48% of our survey takers say a plan costing less than $75 would be reasonable.
About 32% of those people go further and claim that a plan at less than $50/month would be best.

It's almost impossible to find a big-carrier plan with similar characteristics to the average American phone plan for less than $50/month. A single-line AT&T plan, for example, costs between $65.99 and $85.99 per month. However, you can find unlimited plans from alternative carriers like Visible and Mint (starting as low as $25/month) that fit the bill. Someone paying the $76 average could switch to a carrier like Visible and save $432 a year or join Mint Mobile and save $552.

#1	Visible	Visible $25 Visible Plan Unlimited 4G LTE/5G data Verizon 5G Network in select areas with compatible devices Unlimited mobile hotspot data $25.00/mo Taxes & Fees included View Plan	$25.00/mo Taxes & Fees included	View Plan
#2	Mint Mobile	Mint Mobile Unlimited Data Plan Unlimited 4G LTE/5G data T-Mobile 5G Network in select areas with compatible devices 20GB mobile hotspot data Deal: Get this plan for just $25/mo. when you switch to Mint Mobile using promo code 15OFF at checkout. Upfront payment required $25.00/mo $75.00 upfront payment for 3 months (equals to $25.00/month). Intro pricing for new customers only. View Plan	$25.00/mo $75.00 upfront payment for 3 months (equals to $25.00/month). Intro pricing for new customers only.	View Plan

How we gathered our data

WhistleOut distributed a survey online via Pollfish to a sample of 1,000 U.S. adults. The survey has a margin of error of ±4% and a level of confidence of 95%. Results were weighted to reflect characteristics of the United States population using data from the U.S. census.

WhistleOut used data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on the average annual expenditure for cellular phone service from 2013–2020 to predict how much the average phone bill would cost in the years 2021, 2022, and 2023.

WhistleOut also used data sourced from carrier websites and WhistleOut.com to calculate the average price of an unlimited, single-line phone plan.

WhistleOut produced this content and is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Visible, or Mint Mobile.

Average phone bill FAQs

How much does the average American spend on a phone plan?

The average U.S. cell phone bill is about $157 per month, totaling nearly $2,000 per year.

How much time do Americans spend on a phone?

The average American spends 4 hours and 25 minutes on their phone daily, which adds up to over two months or 65 days annually according to Reviews.org.

What is the cheapest cell phone plan per month on average?

The cheapest cell phone plan is around $10 per month, with some talk-and-text plans costing just $ 5 per month.

How much is a new cell phone on average?

The average cell phone costs $718.28 in 2023 according to Statista.

Angelo Ilumba

Senior Writer

Angelo is a highly experienced writer for WhistleOut, specializing in unraveling the complexities of the mobile and tech world so that readers can easily understand what is relevant to them. Angelo has been featured on several publications such as MoneyTalksNews, Yahoo Finance, NPR and more.

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