US residential electricity rates by state

Source & reference date

Rates: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A (average residential price of electricity), data month April 2026, retrieved 2026-07-13. The example-cost column is computed by WattFit as 450 W × 4 h/day × 30.44 days ÷ 1000 × rate — a whole-system draw typical of an RTX 5080-class gaming PC under load (see the GPU power draw table).

A 3.8x spread across states

The gap between the cheapest and most expensive state is larger than the gap between GPU tiers. In North Dakota, moving from an RTX 5070 to an RTX 5090 changes the power bill less than simply living in New England does with the smaller card. New England (Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire), California, Alaska, and Hawaii all sit at 1.4x the national average or higher; the Mountain West, the Plains states, and much of the South stay under 17¢/kWh.

Averages vs your actual tariff

The EIA average blends every utility and rate plan in a state, so treat it as a starting point. Tiered plans (common in California) charge more per kWh once household usage passes a threshold — a gaming PC's consumption often lands in the upper tier, making its marginal cost higher than the average rate suggests. Time-of-use plans cut the other way if you game off-peak. When you want a precise figure, divide the total charges on your bill by the kWh used that month and use that effective rate instead.

How this table feeds the rest of the site

Every dollar figure WattFit publishes is watts ÷ 1000 × hours × rate with the rate defaulting to this table. The running-cost table applies the national average to each GPU's measured draw from the power draw table; the calculators (in build) will let you pick your state or type your bill's exact rate. Update policy: refreshed from the EIA at least yearly, and the data month is always printed above the table — see the methodology page.