Dryer Cost to Run: Per Load, Month and Year (2026)

An average U.S. home with an electric clothes dryer used 680 kWh a year to run it in 2020, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). At the U.S. average residential price of 18.16 cents per kWh for August 2026, that is about $123 a year, about $10 a month, or roughly 44 cents a load. How many people live in the home, how full and wet the loads are, and your electric rate change the answer.

A dryer is one of the larger loads in a home while it runs, but because it runs only a few hours a week, its yearly cost is far smaller than an electric water heater’s (about 2,706 kWh a year in EIA’s 2020 data). This guide shows the math per hour, load, month and year, and what cuts it. To find your own rate, see our electricity rates by state page.

The Formula

Cost = kWh used × your price per kWh

You pay for kilowatt-hours (kWh), the energy used, not for the dryer’s power rating in kilowatts (kW). Our kW vs kWh explainer covers the difference.

Per hour of heating. Most of an electric dryer’s energy goes to its heating element. One full-size electric dryer we checked, Frigidaire’s FFQE5000QW (7.0 cubic feet), lists a heating element of 4,700 watts at 240 volts and a connected load of 5.4 kW. At 4,700 watts, the element uses 4.7 kWh for each hour it is on:

• At 18.16 cents per kWh: 4.7 × $0.1816 = about 85 cents an hour of heating

The element cycles on and off as the drum reaches temperature, and a moisture sensor can end the cycle early, so a real load usually uses less than the rating times the run time. That is why the per-load figure below starts from measured household use instead.

Per load. EIA does not publish kWh per load. DOE’s dryer test procedure assumes “the representative average use for clothes dryers is 283 drying cycles per year.” Dividing EIA’s 680 kWh by 283 loads gives our estimate:

• 680 ÷ 283 = about 2.4 kWh a load
• 2.4 kWh × $0.1816 = about 44 cents a load

Treat that as an average. Heavy towels, high heat and over-drying cost more; small, well-spun loads cost less.

What an Average Home Pays

Assumptions: EIA Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) 2020, Table CE5.3a, average clothes dryer electricity use per household that uses an electric dryer; U.S. average residential price of 18.16 cents per kWh for August 2026 (EIA Electric Power Monthly, released Oct. 23, 2026; preliminary).

By Household Size

The number of people in the home changes dryer use more than anything else in EIA’s table. Same price assumption, 18.16 cents per kWh:

By region, EIA’s averages are close together: 632 kWh in the Northeast, 702 in the Midwest, 700 in the South and 641 in the West.

By Electric Rate

Your price per kWh matters as much as your usage. Average home (680 kWh a year, 2.4 kWh a load), using EIA’s August 2026 state averages:

State averages hide big differences between utilities and plans. If you pay a time-of-use rate, running the dryer outside peak hours can cost noticeably less per load.

Washer vs Dryer

The washer’s motor uses far less. EIA’s 2020 average for clothes washers is 69 kWh a year, about $12.53 at 18.16 cents, a tenth of the dryer. If you wash in warm or hot water, the cost of heating that water shows up on your water heater, not the washer’s motor.

How to Cut the Cost

DOE’s Energy Saver laundry guidance gives these steps:

• Don’t over-dry. “If your machine has a moisture sensor, use it.”
• Clean the lint screen after every load “to improve air circulation and prevent fire hazards.”
• Use the cool-down cycle so clothes finish drying on heat already in the drum.
• Check the dryer vent periodically so it is not blocked.
• Air-dry on a line or rack when you can.

New dryer? DOE says ENERGY STAR clothes dryers “use 20% less energy than conventional models,” and heat pump dryers “can save 20-60 percent more energy than conventional clothes dryers.” ENERGY STAR’s own page says heat pump dryers use “around 70% less energy” than conventional dryers and need no exterior vent.

For an average home using 680 kWh a year, by our math at 18.16 cents:

Those savings are modest for a small household and larger for big families or high electric rates. ENERGY STAR estimates a certified dryer “saves approximately $210 in energy bills over the life of the product”; the page does not state its rate or usage assumptions.

Dryers and Solar

If you are sizing solar panels, an electric dryer is a small part of yearly use. EIA’s 680 kWh is about 6% of the 10,791 kWh the average U.S. home bought in 2022 (see how much electricity a house uses). At about 1,375 kWh of yearly output per kW of panels (our calculator’s national figure), 680 kWh is about 0.5 kW of panels.

Timing matters more than the total. A dryer like the one above can draw close to 5 kW while its element is on, which can be more than a small rooftop system produces at that moment. Running it at midday on a sunny day uses more of your own solar output, which helps most where exported power earns less than the retail rate.

Sources and verification

Limitations

EIA’s figures are 2020 averages for homes that use an electric dryer; the 2024 survey’s consumption data are not out yet. The per-load figure combines two federal numbers and is an estimate, not a measurement. Prices are state averages including all charges divided by kWh, not any utility’s tariff, and may not include sales taxes added to your bill. Gas dryers use natural gas or propane for heat and are not covered here.