How much does an aquarium cost per month in New Jersey?

About $12.41 a month, assuming 150 W at a 45% duty cycle, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year at 25.19¢/kWh.

How many kilowatt-hours does an aquarium use?

Roughly 591 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.07 kWh for every hour it runs.

Is that expensive compared with other states?

New Jersey has the 10th most expensive average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs more here than the U.S. average of $108 a year.

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Cost to run an aquarium in New Jersey (July 2026 rates)

At 25.19¢ per kilowatt-hour — New Jersey's average residential price in July 2026 — running an aquarium costs $149 a year. That is 38% more than the national average of $108. New Jersey's residential rate is down 0.5% from July 2025, which moves this appliance from $150 to $149 a year.

Per hour: 1.7¢
Per day of use: 40.8¢
Per month: $12.41
Per year: $149

Assumption: 150 W at a 45% duty cycle, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year — 591 kWh a year. A 55-gallon tank: heater, filter and light combined, averaged over a day. Use the calculator to swap in the numbers from your own model.

How New Jersey compares

New Jersey pays 25.19¢/kWh, the 10th most expensive residential electricity of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions EIA reports. For this appliance that works out to $40.68 more a year than the typical U.S. household pays for the same use. Running the same aquarium costs $75.21 a year in Louisiana and $284 in Hawaii, so where you live changes this bill by $209 a year.

State	Rate	Per month	Per year
Vermont	23.75¢	$11.70	$140
Connecticut	24.16¢	$11.90	$143
New Jersey	25.19¢	$12.41	$149
District of Columbia	25.21¢	$12.42	$149
New Hampshire	26.60¢	$13.11	$157

States ranked by average residential price, cheapest first. See all 51 states for an aquarium.

What else costs about the same in New Jersey

Gaming pc$147 a year in NJ Well pump$138 a year in NJ Dehumidifier$136 a year in NJ

Cutting the number down

The heater is nearly all of it, and its runtime depends on the room. A tank in a cool room costs more to keep warm.
Insulating the back and sides of the tank cuts heater runtime without changing the view.
A lid limits evaporative heat loss, which is the main way an open tank sheds the warmth you paid for.

Questions

How much does an aquarium cost per month in New Jersey?: About $12.41 a month, assuming 150 W at a 45% duty cycle, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year at 25.19¢/kWh.
How many kilowatt-hours does an aquarium use?: Roughly 591 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.07 kWh for every hour it runs.
Is that expensive compared with other states?: New Jersey has the 10th most expensive average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs more here than the U.S. average of $108 a year.