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Data study

Power Outages by State: Who Loses Power the Most (2021-2025 Data)

Louisiana, Maine and West Virginia lose power the most. From 2021-2025 the average customer in Louisiana went 25.9 hours a year without electricity, against 7.0 hours for the US as a whole. In 2025, the latest year of EIA data, the average American was without power for 4.5 hours including major storms and 2.1 hours without them, over 1.34 outages.

Louisiana's average is mostly one storm: in 2021, the year of Hurricane Ida, its customers averaged 97.8 hours without power, 76% of its five-year total. In 2025 alone, West Virginia had the most outage hours (16.9).

The figures are EIA's state totals of what utilities report under the IEEE 1366 standard: hours without power (SAIDI) and number of outages (SAIFI) per customer, with and without major event days. Below is every state and DC, ranked, plus what that means for sizing backup power.

By Marcus Reed. Updated Nov 8, 2026. Data years 2015-2025, EIA Electric Power Annual (released October 21, 2026).

US average outage figures

Hours without power, 2025
4.5
US average customer, incl. major events
Ordinary-day hours, 2025
2.1
excl. major event days
Hours a year, 2021-2025
7.0
five-year average, incl. major events
Outages, 2025
1.34
per customer, incl. major events

Key findings

  1. 1Louisiana (25.9 hours), Maine (17.5 hours) and West Virginia (16.8 hours) lost power the most from 2021-2025, measured as average hours without power per customer per year including major storms. The US average was 7.0 hours.
  2. 22024 was the worst year in EIA's 2015-2025 data: the average US customer was out for 11.0 hours. 2025 was calmer at 4.5 hours, 2.1 of them on ordinary days.
  3. 3Major event days (big storms, by the IEEE 1366 definition) account for about 70% of all outage hours: 7.0 hours a year on average including them, 2.1 without.
  4. 4West Virginia has the least reliable everyday power: 7.9 hours a year without power even with major storms removed, 3.7 times the US figure, and the most outage hours of any state in 2025 (16.9).
  5. 5The single worst state-year in the last five was Louisiana in 2021 (Hurricane Ida): 97.8 hours without power for the average customer. That one year is 76% of Louisiana's five-year total.
  6. 6District of Columbia (0.8 hours), Delaware (1.6 hours) and Arizona (1.6 hours) lose power the least. Outages are most frequent in Alaska (3.19 a year), Maine (2.94 a year) and West Virginia (2.68 a year).

Every state, ranked by hours without power

Ranked by the 2021-2025 average including major events, since one hurricane can swing a single year. Click any column to sort.

Average hours without power and number of outages per customer by state, 2021-2025 and 2025. Click a column header to sort.
-United States7.02.11.424.51.34
1Louisiana25.93.92.364.52.21
2Maine17.53.82.946.12.24
3West Virginia16.87.92.6816.93.08
4Texas13.72.62.193.51.76
5Virginia*13.14.52.1512.72.35
6South Carolina13.01.91.632.51.26
7Mississippi12.24.42.418.72.50
8Michigan12.12.81.4610.11.42
9Oregon9.71.91.235.01.12
10Kentucky9.52.51.756.61.86
11Florida9.41.11.191.20.84
12Alaska9.44.43.199.43.02
13Vermont*9.23.32.404.22.06
14North Carolina8.92.41.593.21.36
15Arkansas8.93.72.057.92.17
16Tennessee7.32.92.333.81.55
17Oklahoma*7.32.11.675.01.72
18Georgia7.22.51.754.51.84
19New Hampshire7.21.51.352.51.12
20Washington7.12.51.516.41.45
21Nebraska6.51.10.989.01.32
22Ohio5.82.21.333.41.27
23Indiana5.82.11.386.31.39
24Hawaii*5.4n/a3.925.63.45
25California5.12.61.336.01.30
26New York*5.02.31.404.11.41
27Missouri4.91.71.247.81.37
28Pennsylvania4.92.11.276.91.42
29Wisconsin4.81.51.024.40.99
30North Dakota4.51.51.143.51.19
31Kansas4.31.71.403.21.31
32Alabama*4.32.51.924.51.92
33Idaho4.12.31.304.91.16
34Montana4.12.31.414.81.33
35Massachusetts3.91.41.032.00.91
36New Mexico3.22.21.192.71.20
37Colorado3.21.81.164.51.29
38Minnesota3.11.41.133.01.18
39Rhode Island3.11.01.013.00.96
40Connecticut3.01.30.923.10.94
41South Dakota3.01.31.074.71.33
42Maryland2.81.30.963.00.96
43Wyoming2.71.91.173.71.51
44Illinois2.41.00.842.40.87
45Nevada2.41.31.002.11.13
46Iowa2.31.31.033.11.14
47New Jersey2.21.51.002.61.12
48Utah1.91.70.911.90.86
49Arizona1.61.10.971.10.88
50Delaware1.61.10.891.70.94
51District of Columbia0.80.50.340.80.32

Download the full table (CSV). * EIA's figure covers under 50% of the state's customers in 2025, because many co-ops and municipal utilities there do not file IEEE reliability data: Hawaii 7%, Vermont 11%, Alabama 16%, New York 24%, Virginia 31%, Oklahoma 46%. Treat those rows as a sample, not the whole state. Hawaii: fewer than three years of ordinary-day data in 2021-2025, so no average is shown.

Most and fewest outage hours

Most hours without power

2021-2025 average per customer per year, incl. major events

  1. 1.Louisiana25.9 h
  2. 2.Maine17.5 h
  3. 3.West Virginia16.8 h
  4. 4.Texas13.7 h
  5. 5.Virginia13.1 h

Fewest hours without power

2021-2025 average per customer per year, incl. major events

  1. 51.District of Columbia0.8 h
  2. 50.Delaware1.6 h
  3. 49.Arizona1.6 h
  4. 48.Utah1.9 h
  5. 47.New Jersey2.2 h

What this means for backup power

Yearly hours tell you how much outage you live with; what you buy depends on how long a single outage lasts. In 2025 the average US outage on an ordinary day lasted about 116 minutes, but the big storms that make up 70% of outage time leave homes dark for days. If your state sits near the top of the table, plan for the long one.

For the numbers below we keep the essentials running: a full-size fridge, Wi-Fi and modem, and four LED lamps, about 75 watts on average, using the same appliance figures as our sizing tools, with 15% lost in the inverter. A gas furnace blower adds about 100 watts on average in winter.

A few hours

350 Wh

of battery for the essentials

The ordinary outage: in 2025 the average non-storm interruption lasted about 116 minutes.

A small portable power station or a UPS keeps the Wi-Fi, lights and phones going; a closed fridge keeps food safe for about 4 hours on its own (USDA).

Power station size calculator

A day

2.1 kWh

of battery for the essentials

A summer thunderstorm or ice storm that takes out a feeder line.

A power station of 2 kWh or more, or a solar generator if you want to recharge without fuel. This is where the fridge starts to matter.

Power station size calculator

Three days or more

14.8 kWh

of battery for the essentials plus a furnace blower

A hurricane, derecho or major ice storm: the major event days that make up 70% of all outage hours in the US.

Batteries get expensive at this size. A portable generator with a transfer switch or interlock, or a whole-home battery with solar recharge, is the usual answer, especially if you also need a well pump, sump pump or furnace.

Generator size calculator

Your own list will differ: a well pump, sump pump, space heater or window AC changes the answer far more than the state you live in. Add your appliances in the generator size calculator, the power station calculator or the home battery backup sizer to get watts, watt-hours and matched models.

Buying guides built on the same numbers: best portable generator for home backup, home battery backup with no installer, best solar generator for home backup and the power outage kit checklist for everything that is not a battery.

Methodology

The data. Every year utilities report two reliability measures on Form EIA-861. SAIDI (System Average Interruption Duration Index) is the total minutes of sustained outages the average customer had in the year. SAIFI (System Average Interruption Frequency Index) is the number of those outages. Momentary blinks under five minutes are not counted. The EIA aggregates the utility figures into state totals in its Electric Power Annual; we use those state totals as published, for the IEEE method, and do no reweighting of our own.

Our math. Hours without power = SAIDI / 60. The ranking uses the simple average of the five most recent years (2021-2025), because a single hurricane or derecho can make one year unrepresentative. A five-year average needs at least three reported years. The 2025 columns are that year alone. Average outage length is SAIDI divided by SAIFI.

Major event days. IEEE Standard 1366 defines a major event day as one whose daily SAIDI exceeds a threshold (TMED) set statistically from the utility's previous five years of daily data (the 2.5 beta method). Figures "including major events" are what customers experienced; figures "excluding major events" show day-to-day grid performance.

Caveats. These are utility-reported numbers, not independent measurements. Not every utility reports IEEE figures: the EIA estimates the IEEE data covers 79% of US customers in 2025, and far less in a few states (marked with * in the table). Utilities can differ in how they record outage start and end times. Outages that begin on the transmission grid are included. A state average hides big differences between utilities and between towns and rural lines within a state.

Sources

EIA files downloaded Nov 8, 2026 by scripts/fetch-outage-data.mjs, which rebuilds the table and the CSV from the EIA spreadsheets.

Cite this data

Free to use in articles and research with a link to this page. Suggested citation:

CrunchYourDollars, "Power Outages by State," updated Nov 8, 2026, https://crunchyourdollars.com/power-outages-by-state. Data: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-861.

Link: https://crunchyourdollars.com/power-outages-by-state. Full table: CSV. Questions or a state-level angle for your story: contact us.

Frequently asked questions

Which state has the most power outages?

By total time without power, Louisiana: its customers averaged 25.9 hours a year from 2021-2025, followed by Maine (17.5), West Virginia (16.8), Texas (13.7) and Virginia (13.1). Hurricanes and other major storms drive most of that. With major storms removed, West Virginia is worst at 7.9 hours a year. By number of outages, Alaska leads with 3.19 per customer per year.

How many hours a year does the average American go without power?

4.5 hours in 2025 including major events, and 2.1 hours excluding them, from EIA's utility reliability data. The 2021-2025 average is 7.0 hours including major events, pulled up by 2024 (11.0 hours). The average customer had 1.34 outages in 2025.

Which state has the most reliable power?

District of Columbia had the fewest outage hours, 0.8 a year from 2021-2025. Among the 50 states, Delaware (1.6), Arizona (1.6) and Utah (1.9) lose power the least.

What is a major event day?

Under the IEEE 1366 standard that utilities report to the EIA, a major event day is a day whose outage minutes exceed a threshold (TMED) calculated from the utility's own daily outage history over the previous five years. In practice it is a big storm day. Excluding those days shows the everyday reliability of the grid; including them shows what customers actually lived through.

Do I need a generator or a battery for power outages?

It depends on how long your outages run. Keeping a fridge, Wi-Fi and a few lights on (about 75 watts on average) takes roughly 350 Wh of battery for 4 hours, 2.1 kWh for a day, and 14.8 kWh for three days with a gas furnace blower. Short outages suit a power station; multi-day storm outages are usually cheaper to cover with a generator.

Where does this power outage data come from?

From the U.S. Energy Information Administration's Electric Power Annual (Tables 11.2, 11.4 and 11.5), which aggregates the SAIDI and SAIFI that utilities report on Form EIA-861 into state figures. SAIDI is minutes without power per customer per year; we divide by 60 for hours. SAIFI is the number of outages per customer. Data year 2025 is the latest, published by EIA on October 21, 2026.

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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