Ranking Every Appliance by Annual Running Cost, From Water Heater to Monitor

The median certified electric water heater costs $203.74 a year to run; the median certified computer monitor costs $8.49 — a 24x gap between the most and least expensive appliance category WattCost tracks.

Every category, ranked by median annual cost

1. Water heaters (electric) — $203.74/yr. The only demand-driven category here — cost scales with household hot-water use, not a fixed cycle count. See how heat pump water heaters cut this number.

2. Clothes dryers — $114.30/yr. The same certified dryer can cost 4x more depending on your state.

3. Room air conditioners — $100.16/yr, on the DOE's standard 750-hour cooling season. See window vs. portable AC running costs.

4. Freezers — $78.71/yr, always-on like a refrigerator. See chest vs. upright freezer cost.

5. Refrigerators — $64.96/yr median, but certified models span a 19x range depending on configuration and size.

6. Dehumidifiers — $64.59/yr. Pint capacity, not just brand, drives this number.

7. Dishwashers — $45.00/yr. Cheaper than hand-washing for most households.

8. Televisions — $35.31/yr. Screen size matters less than panel technology.

9. Air purifiers — $27.87/yr, assuming 24/7 operation.

10. Clothes washers — $20.71/yr. Front-load models use about half the energy of a top-load agitator.

11. Computer monitors — $8.49/yr, the cheapest certified category on the site by a wide margin.

Add every median together and a household running exactly one of each at the US average rate — one water heater, one dryer, one room AC, one freezer, one refrigerator, one dehumidifier, one dishwasher, one TV, one air purifier, one washer, one monitor — comes to about $763.84 a year across all eleven categories combined. Water heating and laundry-adjacent categories (dryer, washer) alone account for roughly 44% of that total.

This ranking doesn't change by state — only the dollars do

Every figure above comes from the same two inputs: a certified annual kWh from EPA ENERGY STAR and an average residential electricity rate from the US EIA. Because cost is just kWh × rate, moving from the cheapest state to the most expensive multiplies every category by the exact same factor — currently 3.77x, from North Dakota's 12.35¢/kWh to Hawaii's 46.62¢/kWh. A water heater is the priciest appliance to run in North Dakota, and it's still the priciest one in Hawaii; the ranking order is a property of the appliances, not of where you live.

Why water heaters top the list

Water heating is a demand-driven category — the certified figure is built from the DOE Uniform Energy Factor test, which simulates a household's daily hot-water draw pattern, rather than a fixed cycle count or duty cycle. That makes it the one category where usage habits (long showers, dishwasher and laundry hot-fill cycles, household size) move the number more directly than in any other appliance on this list.

What actually moves the number

• Duty class. Always-on categories (refrigerators, freezers) and demand-driven ones (water heaters) tend to rank higher than cyclical or usage-driven categories, simply because they run more total hours a year.
• Your state's rate. A constant ~3.77x multiplier applies across every category between the cheapest and most expensive state.
• The specific model. Medians hide huge spreads — refrigerators alone range 19x between the most and least efficient certified model.

For the exact formula and data sources behind every ranking on this page, see how WattCost actually calculates every number.

FAQ

What's the most expensive appliance to run? Electric water heaters, at a median of $203.74 a year — demand-driven cost scales with household hot-water use.

What's the cheapest appliance to run? Computer monitors, at a median of $8.49 a year.

Does this ranking change depending on my state's electricity rate? No — every category is multiplied by the same ~3.77x factor between the cheapest and most expensive state, so the relative order stays fixed; only the absolute dollars move.

Where does this data come from? Certified annual kWh from EPA ENERGY STAR crossed with average residential rates from the US EIA — see the full methodology.