What does it actually cost to run?
Pick an appliance and your state. We use the residential electricity rate the EIA publishes for where you live, so the number reflects your reality rather than a national average that applies to nobody.
Location changes everything
Residential electricity runs from 12.35¢ per kWh in Idaho to 52.00¢ in Hawaii. The same appliance, used the same way, costs nearly four times as much in one place as the other. That is why a single national figure is useless, and why every page here is calculated per state.
Heating & Cooling
The largest share of most US electricity bills. Cycling equipment rarely runs at full draw, so duty cycle matters more than nameplate wattage.
Kitchen
Cooking appliances draw heavily but run briefly; refrigeration draws less but never stops.
- Refrigerator $84.81/yr avg
- Chest Freezer $96.92/yr avg
- Electric Oven $96.92/yr avg
- Electric Stovetop $94.23/yr avg
- Microwave $37.02/yr avg
- Dishwasher $40.38/yr avg
- Coffee Maker $30.29/yr avg
- Air Fryer $40.38/yr avg
- Slow Cooker $108/yr avg
- Toaster Oven $22.61/yr avg
- Electric Pressure Cooker $26.92/yr avg
Laundry
Electric resistance drying is one of the costliest household loads. Washing cost is dominated by water heating, not the motor.
Electronics & Office
Individually small, collectively significant - especially devices that never fully power down.
Water Heating
Typically the second-largest household load after heating and cooling.
Outdoor & Garage
Seasonal and intermittent loads that surprise people on their first full-season bill.
How this works
Running cost comes down to four things: how much power the appliance draws, how long you use it, how much of that time it is genuinely drawing power, and what your utility charges per kilowatt-hour. We publish the formula on every page and let you override every input, because a calculator you cannot check is not much use.
Rate data comes from the US Energy Information Administration’s Electric Power Monthly, currently May 2026, and refreshes when the EIA publishes. Read the full methodology.