How much does a string of Christmas lights cost per month in New Jersey?

About 14.2¢ a month, assuming 25 W, 6 hours a day, 45 days a year at 25.19¢/kWh.

How many kilowatt-hours does a string of Christmas lights use?

Roughly 7 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.03 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 $1.24 a year.

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Cost to run a string of Christmas lights in New Jersey (July 2026 rates)

At 25.19¢ per kilowatt-hour — New Jersey's average residential price in July 2026 — running a string of Christmas lights costs $1.70 a year. That is 38% more than the national average of $1.24. New Jersey's residential rate is down 0.5% from July 2025, which moves this appliance from $1.71 to $1.70 a year.

Per hour: 0.6¢
Per day of use: 3.8¢
Per month: 14.2¢
Per year: $1.70

Assumption: 25 W, 6 hours a day, 45 days a year — 7 kWh a year. Per 100-count LED string. A 100-count incandescent string draws roughly 40 W, and older C9 bulbs far more. 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 46.4¢ more a year than the typical U.S. household pays for the same use. Running the same string of Christmas lights costs 85.9¢ a year in Louisiana and $3.24 in Hawaii, so where you live changes this bill by $2.38 a year.

State	Rate	Per month	Per year
Vermont	23.75¢	13.4¢	$1.60
Connecticut	24.16¢	13.6¢	$1.63
New Jersey	25.19¢	14.2¢	$1.70
District of Columbia	25.21¢	14.2¢	$1.70
New Hampshire	26.60¢	15.0¢	$1.80

States ranked by average residential price, cheapest first. See all 51 states for a string of Christmas lights.

What else costs about the same in New Jersey

Led bulb$4.14 a year in NJ Clothes iron$4.16 a year in NJ Smart speaker$6.62 a year in NJ

Cutting the number down

A timer that runs the display six hours instead of twelve halves the season's cost with nobody noticing.
Incandescent strings are where holiday bills come from; LED strings of the same length are a fraction of the draw.

Questions

How much does a string of Christmas lights cost per month in New Jersey?: About 14.2¢ a month, assuming 25 W, 6 hours a day, 45 days a year at 25.19¢/kWh.
How many kilowatt-hours does a string of Christmas lights use?: Roughly 7 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.03 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 $1.24 a year.