Electricity Rates by State

Name: US residential electricity rates by state, 2025
Creator: U.S. Energy Information Administration

Residential electricity prices for all 50 states and DC, ranked cheapest to most expensive, with two reference costs for each: one kilowatt for one hour, and a 1,500 W space heater run 6 hours a day for a month. The US average is 17.3 cents per kWh. Hawaii pays 3.4 times what North Dakota pays.

Updated Oct 16, 2026

Find your state

US average: 17.30 cents per kWh

Pick a state to see where it ranks.

1 kW for an hour: $0.17
Space heater, month: $46.71; 1,500 W, 6 h a day

Five cheapest states

Five most expensive states

Every state, cheapest to most expensive

Residential cents per kWh. The dashed line is the US average, 17.3 cents. Tap a bar to select a state.

Full rate table

Rank	State	Cents/kWh	1 kW for 1 hour	Space heater, monthly1,500 W, 6 h/day, full output
-	US average	17.30	$0.17	$46.71
1	North Dakota ND	11.81	$0.12	$31.89
2	Idaho ID	11.82	$0.12	$31.91
3	Nebraska NE	12.34	$0.12	$33.32
4	Louisiana LA	12.57	$0.13	$33.94
5	Arkansas AR	12.84	$0.13	$34.67
6	Montana MT	12.98	$0.13	$35.05
7	Utah UT	13.07	$0.13	$35.29
8	Washington WA	13.11	$0.13	$35.40
9	Oklahoma OK	13.12	$0.13	$35.42
10	Nevada NV	13.15	$0.13	$35.51
11	Tennessee TN	13.18	$0.13	$35.59
12	Kentucky KY	13.24	$0.13	$35.75
13	South Dakota SD	13.38	$0.13	$36.13
14	Wyoming WY	13.38	$0.13	$36.13
15	Missouri MO	13.49	$0.13	$36.42
16	Iowa IA	13.72	$0.14	$37.04
17	North Carolina NC	14.02	$0.14	$37.85
18	Mississippi MS	14.03	$0.14	$37.88
19	Kansas KS	14.56	$0.15	$39.31
20	Georgia GA	14.73	$0.15	$39.77
21	South Carolina SC	14.96	$0.15	$40.39
22	New Mexico NM	15.08	$0.15	$40.72
23	Florida FL	15.24	$0.15	$41.15
24	Virginia VA	15.28	$0.15	$41.26
25	Arizona AZ	15.32	$0.15	$41.36
26	Oregon OR	15.37	$0.15	$41.50
27	West Virginia WV	15.41	$0.15	$41.61
28	Texas TX	15.47	$0.15	$41.77
29	Minnesota MN	15.82	$0.16	$42.71
30	Colorado CO	15.85	$0.16	$42.80
31	Alabama AL	16.10	$0.16	$43.47
32	Indiana IN	16.23	$0.16	$43.82
33	Ohio OH	16.96	$0.17	$45.79
34	Delaware DE	17.13	$0.17	$46.25
35	Illinois IL	17.69	$0.18	$47.76
36	Wisconsin WI	18.16	$0.18	$49.03
37	Pennsylvania PA	19.30	$0.19	$52.11
38	Maryland MD	19.48	$0.19	$52.60
39	Michigan MI	20.01	$0.20	$54.03
40	District of Columbia DC	21.94	$0.22	$59.24
41	New Jersey NJ	22.63	$0.23	$61.10
42	Vermont VT	22.92	$0.23	$61.88
43	New Hampshire NH	24.56	$0.25	$66.31
44	Alaska AK	26.09	$0.26	$70.44
45	New York NY	26.39	$0.26	$71.25
46	Maine ME	27.78	$0.28	$75.01
47	Connecticut CT	29.38	$0.29	$79.33
48	Rhode Island RI	29.46	$0.29	$79.54
49	Massachusetts MA	30.48	$0.30	$82.30
50	California CA	32.54	$0.33	$87.86
51	Hawaii HI	40.59	$0.41	$109.59

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-861, annual average residential price, 2025 (eia.gov). The heater column is 270 kWh a month at full output with no thermostat cycling. A heater in a normal room cycles and costs 50 to 70 percent of that. The 1 kW column is simply the rate in dollars, and is the cost of any 1,000 W load for one hour.

Why rates differ so much between states

The biggest driver is what the local power plants burn. States with cheap hydro, like Washington and Idaho, or with plentiful coal, gas and wind, like North Dakota and Wyoming, generate at low cost and pass it on. Hawaii burns imported oil for most of its electricity, which is why it sits alone at the top. New England and California rely on natural gas delivered through constrained pipelines, plus a growing share of renewables whose contracts were signed when they were expensive.

Delivery is the second half of the bill and often the half that grows. Poles, wires, substations and the crews that maintain them are paid for per kWh, so states with low population density and long rural lines, or with old urban networks that need rebuilding, charge more to deliver the same power. Wildfire hardening in California and storm hardening on the Gulf and Atlantic coasts have added billions to delivery rates in the last decade.

Climate matters in a less obvious way. Utilities in hot states sell a great deal of electricity in summer, which spreads their fixed costs over more kWh and lowers the average price. Mild-climate states with low usage per household spread the same fixed costs over fewer kWh, so each one costs more.

Regulation sets the rest. Some states have a single regulated utility that owns generation and wires and earns a set return, while others opened generation to competition and let customers choose a supplier. The results are mixed, and the restructured states of the Northeast still have some of the highest prices in the country. State policies on renewable mandates, nuclear subsidies, low-income programs and efficiency surcharges all land on the per-kWh rate.

For your own bill, the state average is only a starting point. Rates vary between utilities inside a state, and time-of-use and tiered plans can make your marginal kWh cost far more or less than the figure above. Divide your last bill total by the kWh used to find the number that applies to you, then use the cost to run calculator with that rate.

What common appliances cost in each state

Each page applies these rates to one appliance, with a live calculator and a full 51-row table.

Cut the number instead of just reading it

Frequently asked questions

What is the average electricity rate in the US?

17.3 cents per kWh for homes in 2025, the EIA's annual residential average. State averages run from 11.8 cents in North Dakota to 40.6 cents in Hawaii.

Which state has the cheapest electricity?

North Dakota, at 11.8 cents per kWh in 2025, followed by Idaho (11.8) and Nebraska (12.3). Low-cost states generally run on cheap hydro, wind, coal or natural gas.

Which state has the most expensive electricity?

Hawaii, at 40.6 cents per kWh in 2025, about 2.3 times the US average. California (32.5) and Massachusetts (30.5) are next.

What is a kWh?

A kilowatt-hour is 1,000 watts used for one hour. A 1,500 W space heater running for an hour uses 1.5 kWh; a 10 W LED bulb takes 100 hours to use 1 kWh. Your bill charges you per kWh.

How do I calculate what an appliance costs to run?

Watts / 1,000 x hours x your rate in dollars. A 1,500 W heater for 6 hours a day uses 9 kWh, which costs $1.56 a day at the 17.3 cent average. Appliances that cycle, like fridges and AC, run only part of each hour, so multiply by the share of time they run.

How much does it cost to run a space heater per hour?

A 1,500 W heater uses 1.5 kWh an hour: $0.26 at the US average, $0.18 in North Dakota and $0.61 in Hawaii. Every 1,500 W resistance heater makes the same heat per kWh, whatever it claims.

Why is my electric rate different from the state average?

The EIA figure is total residential revenue divided by kWh sold, so it blends every utility, rate plan, tier and fixed fee in the state. Your price depends on your utility and plan. Divide your bill total by the kWh used that month to get your real all-in rate.

What is time-of-use electricity pricing?

A plan where the price per kWh changes by time of day, highest in the late afternoon and evening peak and lowest overnight. Shifting flexible loads like EV charging, the dryer and the dishwasher to off-peak hours is the easiest way to cut the bill on one.

Is it cheaper to heat with a heat pump than electric resistance heat?

Yes. Resistance heaters turn 1 kWh into 1 kWh of heat. A heat pump moves heat instead of making it, delivering 2 to 4 kWh of heat per kWh at its rated COP, so the same warmth costs a half to a quarter as much. The advantage shrinks in very cold weather as the COP falls.

How often are these electricity rates updated?

We use the EIA's annual average residential price, currently 2025, and refresh it each October when the new year's figures are out. Monthly rates swing with the season, so a summer bill can run above the annual average.

Marcus Reed

Founder and Editor, CrunchYourDollars

Marcus Reed builds the sizing tools on CrunchYourDollars. He is a software engineer with a long-running PC hardware and power supply habit, which is where the watts, watt-hours and surge math on this site comes from. Product specs are pulled from manufacturer data sheets, electricity rates from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, and water chemistry rules from the Water Quality Association. He is not a licensed electrician or plumber: the tools show the math and the matching models so you can make the call, and anything involving your electrical panel should be checked by a licensed pro.

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