Working From Home: What Your Desk Setup Really Costs in Electricity

A typical home-office desk — one PC, one monitor, one Wi-Fi router — runs somewhere between $95 and $220 a year in electricity at the U.S. average rate, and the PC accounts for nearly all of the swing. The monitor and router barely move the total either way.

The PC: idle desk work vs. a heavier day

Using the gaming PC calculator's measured wall-draw presets over a realistic 8-hour workday, not the calculator's own evening-gaming default: a desktop idling through email and documents at 120 W for 8 hours a day costs about $65.99 a year. The same machine under sustained load — video calls, builds, rendering — at 350 W for 8 hours a day costs about $192.44 a year. Most home-office days sit somewhere between those two figures, not at either extreme.

The monitor: a small, certified line item

Unlike the PC, monitors have real ENERGY STAR certified data. Across 1,482 certified computer monitor models, the median annual use is 45.08 kWh — about $8.49 a year at the U.S. average rate. Certified models range from 11.11 kWh (about $2.09 a year) up to 402.94 kWh (about $75.87 a year) for large, high-refresh-rate displays, so the monitor line item can matter more than it looks like at the median. For the multi-monitor version of this math, WattCost has a dedicated breakdown.

The router: always on, barely there

A Wi-Fi router runs 24 hours a day by nature — there's no "off" setting most people use. At a typical 12 W draw, that's about $19.79 a year, regardless of how much or little you work.

Adding it up

• PC, light desk work (120 W, 8 h/day): about $65.99/year.
• PC, heavy load days (350 W, 8 h/day): about $192.44/year.
• Monitor, median certified model: about $8.49/year.
• Wi-Fi router, 24/7: about $19.79/year.
• Realistic desk total: roughly $94 to $221 a year, depending almost entirely on how hard the PC works — not on the monitor or router.

What actually moves the number

• PC load, not just hours. A machine under sustained load can draw nearly 3x an idle desktop at the same hours.
• Monitor size and count. Certified models span a 36-fold range; a triple-monitor setup multiplies whichever model you chose.
• The router is nearly fixed. It runs the same hours no matter your work pattern, so it's the one line item you can't reduce by working less.
• Your electricity rate. The same desk setup costs roughly 3–4x more in a high-rate state than a low-rate one.

If your desk setup includes a gaming PC, see WattCost's breakdown of what a gaming PC actually costs to run compared to a monitor.

FAQ

How much does a home office cost to run in electricity per year? A PC, monitor, and router together typically run $95–$220 a year at the U.S. average rate, with the PC's workload — not the monitor or router — driving nearly all of the difference.

Is a computer monitor's energy use certified data or an estimate? Certified — ENERGY STAR publishes a per-model annual kWh (TEC) figure for computer monitors, unlike PCs and routers, which have no comparable per-model certification and are estimated by watts × hours.

Does a Wi-Fi router use much electricity? Very little in isolation — about $19.79 a year at a typical 12 W draw — but it's one of the few devices in a home office that truly never turns off.

What's the biggest lever for cutting home-office electricity costs? The PC's workload and hours. Idle desk work at 120 W costs roughly a third of sustained heavy load at 350 W for the same hours — see the gaming PC calculator to model your own setup.