How Much Does It Cost to Run an LED Light Bulb per Day?

Source: Planning watts of 9 and 5 hours a day, hours of use a day. Price: 17.23 cents per kWh, the 2025 US residential average from EIA Form EIA-861.

The monthly cost is 0% of the $150.68 average US electric bill. It runs all year, so the yearly cost is twelve times the monthly figure.

One figure cannot fit every home. These three cases show how much the answer moves with the equipment and the hours.

The lowest case costs $0 a month and the highest $4. Use the calculator above to match your own.

The same led light bulb costs different amounts depending on the state, because the price per kWh differs. Here are the three cheapest states, the US average and the three costliest, for the same 1 kWh a month.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-861 (final 2025 data). Price is residential revenue divided by sales and includes fixed charges.

See electricity rates in every state to find your own.

An LED bulb turns most of its electricity into light rather than heat, which is why it uses far less than an incandescent bulb of the same brightness. A bulb rated at about 800 lumens replaces a 60 watt incandescent and uses about 9 watts.

The savings are real, but lighting is a small share of most bills, so replace the bulbs you use most first. Dimmers, smart bulbs in standby and fixtures with several bulbs change the total.

The range for this kind of appliance runs from about 5 to 15 watts. At 5 hours a day that is $0 to $0 a month, which is why checking the label on yours is worth the minute.

• Replace the five most used bulbs first.
• Use dimmers and motion sensors in low-use spaces.
• Check whether your utility sells discounted LED packs.

Next step: How to lower your bill. For general ideas, read how to lower your electric bill.

Other appliances in the electronics and lighting group: Television, Gaming PC, Computer, Crypto Miner, Hair Dryer.

The cost is watts divided by 1,000, times hours, times your price per kWh. The 9 watts is a planning figure for this kind of appliance, set from typical product ratings, and the 5 hours is an assumed day of use. Neither is copied from a federal table. Federal guidance describes the method and warns that real wattage varies, so we publish our own typical ranges and label them as such. Prices come from EIA Form EIA-861 for 2025.

The calculation is the standard one used in the U.S. Department of Energy's consumer guidance on estimating appliance energy use. Wattage varies by product age and features, so the label on your own appliance beats any average. Read more in our methodology.