What uses the most electricity in a home? State by state

Where the numbers come from

The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) splits household electricity by use for every state. Its latest edition covers 2020, with state tables released in 2023; these figures will be updated when the next edition is published. Two measures are used below, and they answer different questions:

• Share of household electricity: each use’s total over all homes in the state, divided by all their electricity. It counts how many homes have the use: in a state where few homes heat with electricity, heating’s share is small.
• Yearly cost for a home that has it: the average kWh of the homes that do use it, priced at the state’s average residential price over the 12 months to August 2026 (EIA). It is an average, not your own plan’s price: fixed charges are folded in, and tiers and time-of-use periods are averaged out.

Climate decides the top use

Air conditioning, space heating and water heating together take 48% of US household electricity, and which of the three comes first depends on climate and on how homes heat. Air conditioning is the largest use in 29 of the 51 states (50 states and DC), led by Arizona, Nevada, Florida, Louisiana. Space heating comes first in 18, among them North Dakota, West Virginia, Washington, Wyoming, typically where many homes heat with electricity; water heating in 3, among them Oregon, Vermont, New Hampshire, where air conditioning is less common. In Maine (refrigerators and freezers), none of the three comes first.

The rest is spread across many smaller uses: refrigerators and freezers (10% nationally), lighting (6%), TVs and the boxes around them (6%), laundry (5%) and cooking (2%). “Everything else”, 23% in the US, is what RECS does not break out by state: microwaves, dishwashers, computers, pool pumps, dehumidifiers, electric vehicles and the standby draw of everything plugged in.

What the big uses cost

For a home that has them, the big three are also the big costs. A US home with air conditioning used 2,318 kWh a year on it, about $418 at today’s US average price; in Arizona the average was 5,165 kWh, and the highest yearly cost is in Hawaii, $1,256. An electric water heater used 2,706 kWh, about $488. Electric space heating averaged 2,484 kWh, about $448, but that average mixes homes heated entirely with electricity and homes where a space heater supplements gas; it was highest in West Virginia, 5,505 kWh.

The everyday appliances cost less each but run all year: all of a home’s refrigerators, 839 kWh (about $151); a clothes dryer, 680 kWh ($123); lighting, 654 kWh ($118); TVs and related devices, 632 kWh ($114). A second refrigerator alone averaged 494 kWh, about $89 a year.

From the state average to your home

• Start with the big three. Cooling, heating and water heating are where efficiency pays most: see heat pump vs gas furnace, what an electric water heater costs and what a space heater costs to run.
• Price your own appliances. The appliance cost calculator prices any appliance and schedule on your utility’s actual plan, including tiers and time-of-use periods.
• Compare with your state. Your bill shows your monthly kWh; average electric bill by state shows the typical home’s use and bill in each state.

Limits: RECS describes 2020, the year of the pandemic’s lockdowns, and appliances and habits have changed since; shares in small states rest on fewer surveyed homes, and EIA notes that differences between states may not be statistically significant. Figures EIA withholds count as zero in the shares. Source: EIA, 2020 RECS state data (tables CE5.1.ST, CE5.3.ST and CE2.1.ST).