How much electricity a home uses, state by state, and what it pays

By Alex Reyes, founding editor · Published September 23, 2026 · Figures from data retrieved September 2, 2026

The typical home — the middle household in the federal residential survey — uses 13,784 kWh of electricity a year in Louisiana and 5,619 kWh in California, about 1,149 kWh and 468 kWh a month. Priced on the published plans a household can take at the utilities indexed in 18 states, that typical home’s bill is dearest in California, at a median of $2,178 a year — and California is where the typical home, of the states priced here, uses the least.

A year’s electricity for a home, by state
State	Typical home, a year	A month	Average home, a year	Homes surveyed
Louisiana	13,784 kWh	1,149 kWh	14,779 kWh	311
Alabama	13,001 kWh	1,083 kWh	13,810 kWh	242
Mississippi	12,714 kWh	1,059 kWh	14,062 kWh	168
Tennessee	12,591 kWh	1,049 kWh	14,220 kWh	505
Florida	12,447 kWh	1,037 kWh	13,990 kWh	655
Arizona	12,362 kWh	1,030 kWh	13,603 kWh	495
Georgia	12,312 kWh	1,026 kWh	13,270 kWh	417
Texas	12,235 kWh	1,020 kWh	13,440 kWh	1,016
South Carolina	12,233 kWh	1,019 kWh	13,526 kWh	334
Kentucky	12,100 kWh	1,008 kWh	13,330 kWh	428
Virginia	11,898 kWh	991 kWh	12,937 kWh	451
North Carolina	11,796 kWh	983 kWh	12,498 kWh	479
Arkansas	11,782 kWh	982 kWh	13,395 kWh	268
Oklahoma	11,623 kWh	969 kWh	13,579 kWh	232
West Virginia	11,084 kWh	924 kWh	13,462 kWh	197
Missouri	10,845 kWh	904 kWh	11,983 kWh	296
Kansas	10,268 kWh	856 kWh	10,829 kWh	208
Delaware	9,851 kWh	821 kWh	11,135 kWh	143
Nevada	9,829 kWh	819 kWh	11,094 kWh	231
Indiana	9,608 kWh	801 kWh	11,638 kWh	400
Idaho	9,605 kWh	800 kWh	11,087 kWh	270
North Dakota	9,567 kWh	797 kWh	11,841 kWh	331
Oregon	9,502 kWh	792 kWh	11,132 kWh	313
Nebraska	9,479 kWh	790 kWh	10,712 kWh	189
Washington	9,442 kWh	787 kWh	10,990 kWh	439
Maryland	9,367 kWh	781 kWh	11,526 kWh	359
South Dakota	9,184 kWh	765 kWh	10,779 kWh	183
Ohio	8,951 kWh	746 kWh	10,278 kWh	339
Iowa	8,936 kWh	745 kWh	10,262 kWh	286
Pennsylvania	8,669 kWh	722 kWh	10,248 kWh	617
Utah	8,633 kWh	719 kWh	9,116 kWh	188
Montana	8,114 kWh	676 kWh	9,308 kWh	172
Minnesota	8,015 kWh	668 kWh	9,331 kWh	325
Wyoming	7,548 kWh	629 kWh	9,180 kWh	190
Illinois	7,432 kWh	619 kWh	8,451 kWh	530
Michigan	7,344 kWh	612 kWh	8,370 kWh	388
New Mexico	7,332 kWh	611 kWh	8,234 kWh	178
New Jersey	7,251 kWh	604 kWh	8,305 kWh	456
Wisconsin	7,198 kWh	600 kWh	8,432 kWh	357
Hawaii	7,169 kWh	597 kWh	7,976 kWh	282
Colorado	7,053 kWh	588 kWh	8,144 kWh	360
Connecticut	6,695 kWh	558 kWh	7,794 kWh	294
Alaska	6,636 kWh	553 kWh	7,452 kWh	311
New Hampshire	6,443 kWh	537 kWh	7,273 kWh	175
Vermont	6,274 kWh	523 kWh	6,746 kWh	245
District of Columbia	6,039 kWh	503 kWh	7,020 kWh	221
Rhode Island	6,023 kWh	502 kWh	6,913 kWh	191
Maine	6,011 kWh	501 kWh	7,048 kWh	223
Massachusetts	5,990 kWh	499 kWh	7,237 kWh	552
New York	5,721 kWh	477 kWh	6,916 kWh	904
California	5,619 kWh	468 kWh	6,482 kWh	1,152

All electricity a household used in a year, from the EIA’s 2020 Residential Energy Consumption Survey. The typical home is the weighted median household; the average is the weighted mean. A state is left out where fewer than 30 homes were surveyed.

Why the average home uses more than the typical one

In every one of the 51 states, the average home uses more than the typical one. A minority of homes that use far more than the rest pull the average up and leave the middle household where it is; the gap is widest in North Dakota, where the average is 24% above the typical home. That is why the bills below are priced at the typical home: at least half of homes use no more than it does, and so less than the average.

What the typical home’s electricity costs in a year
State	Typical use, a year	Cheapest	Median	Dearest	Median, a month	Median per kWh
California53 plans from City & County of San Francisco (Utility Company), City of Redding, California (Utility Company), Los Angeles Department of Water & Power, Pacific Gas & Electric Co, and San Diego Gas & Electric Co	5,619 kWh	$1,047	$2,178	$2,740	$181	38.8¢
Pennsylvania3 plans from Duquesne Light Co and PECO Energy Co	8,669 kWh	$2,005	$2,033	$2,100	$169	23.4¢
Virginia3 plans from Virginia Electric & Power Co	11,898 kWh	$1,941	$2,007	$3,023	$167	16.9¢
Oregon3 plans from Portland General Electric Co	9,502 kWh	$1,212	$1,936	$2,012	$161	20.4¢
New Jersey3 plans from Public Service Elec & Gas Co	7,251 kWh	$1,676	$1,926	$2,026	$160	26.6¢
Georgia3 plans from Georgia Power Co	12,312 kWh	$1,776	$1,903	$1,970	$159	15.5¢
Arizona10 plans from Arizona Public Service Co and Tucson Electric Power Co	12,362 kWh	$1,229	$1,886	$2,214	$157	15.3¢
North Carolina8 plans from Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC and Progress Energy Carolinas Inc	11,796 kWh	$1,493	$1,862	$2,019	$155	15.8¢
Michigan4 plans from Consumers Energy Co	7,344 kWh	$1,785	$1,800	$1,811	$150	24.5¢
Florida3 plans from Florida Power & Light Co. and Jacksonville Electric Authority	12,447 kWh	$1,655	$1,661	$2,118	$138	13.3¢
Massachusetts7 plans from NSTAR Electric Company	5,990 kWh	$1,574	$1,601	$2,148	$133	26.7¢
Texas8 plans from Austin Energy, City of Lubbock, Texas (Utility Company), City of San Antonio, Texas (Utility Company), El Paso Electric Co, and Sharyland Utilities LP	12,235 kWh	$967	$1,600	$2,322	$133	13.1¢
Washington10 plans from City of Seattle, Washington (Utility Company) and Modern Electric Water Company	9,442 kWh	$570	$1,593	$1,600	$133	16.9¢
Minnesota4 plans from Northern States Power Co - Minnesota	8,015 kWh	$1,273	$1,345	$1,371	$112	16.8¢
New York48 plans from City of Plattsburgh, New York (Utility Company), Consolidated Edison Co-NY Inc, Long Island Power Authority, New York State Elec & Gas Corp, Niagara Mohawk Power Corp., and Rochester Gas & Electric Corp	5,721 kWh	$179	$1,334	$2,723	$111	23.3¢
Colorado3 plans from Public Service Co of Colorado	7,053 kWh	$1,181	$1,237	$1,251	$103	17.5¢
Illinois4 plans from City of Springfield, Illinois (Utility Company) and Commonwealth Edison Co	7,432 kWh	$898	$961	$1,173	$80	12.9¢
Ohio3 plans from City of Cleveland, Ohio (Utility Company) and City of Columbus, Ohio (Utility Company)	8,951 kWh	$631	$878	$1,011	$73	9.8¢

A state here is the plans of the utilities named under it, not every utility in the state. Each plan is priced at the state’s typical-home consumption spread evenly over the year: fixed charges included, taxes excluded. Plans any household can take only — means-tested, closed and conditional schedules and delivery-only records are left out, and so are plans with a demand charge, which the rate engine can only price on an even hourly profile that understates them.

How much of the gap is use, and how much is price

The typical home in California uses 37% less electricity than the typical home in Ohio, and its median bill is still 2.5 times as large: each kWh costs 4.0 times as much there, a median of 38.8¢ against 9.8¢. The whole difference, and more, is price.

The heaviest typical home among the states priced here is in Florida, at 12,447 kWh a year, and its median bill ranks 10th of 18.

What these figures assume

The consumption is from the survey’s 2020 edition; the prices are the plans in force when the tariff records were retrieved. What a household uses has moved since the survey, and nothing here adjusts for it.

The year’s consumption is spread evenly across the months. Real use rises in summer or winter, and on a seasonal or tiered plan that changes which price each kWh is billed at. The state-by-state cost guide prices the same plans at three fixed levels of use instead of the typical home’s.

How this page was made

Every figure here is computed when the site is built, from the records named below, by the same rate engine that fills the state, utility and appliance pages this guide links to. When those records are refreshed, the figures change with them; the words around them do not, which is why no sentence here states a direction the data has not been checked for.

The text was reviewed by the editor before publication. The methodology page sets out what the rate engine assumes and where its figures stop being reliable.

Estimate — your actual bill may differ.

EIA Residential Energy Consumption Survey 2020 (US public domain), retrieved September 2, 2026.

NREL/OpenEI Utility Rate Database (CC0 1.0), retrieved September 2, 2026.