How much does an electric baseboard heater cost per month in Iowa?

About $17.92 a month, assuming 1,500 W at a 50% duty cycle, 12 hours a day, 150 days a year at 15.93¢/kWh.

How many kilowatt-hours does an electric baseboard heater use?

Roughly 1,350 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.75 kWh for every hour it runs.

Is that expensive compared with other states?

Iowa has the 23rd cheapest average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs less here than the U.S. average of $248 a year.

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Cost to run an electric baseboard heater in Iowa (June 2026 rates)

At 15.93¢ per kilowatt-hour — Iowa's average residential price in June 2026 — running an electric baseboard heater costs $215 a year. That is 13% less than the national average of $248. Iowa's residential rate is up 3.9% from June 2025, which moves this appliance from $207 to $215 a year.

Per hour: 11.9¢
Per day of use: $1.43
Per month: $17.92
Per year: $215

Assumption: 1,500 W at a 50% duty cycle, 12 hours a day, 150 days a year — 1,350 kWh a year. Per 6-foot section. A whole house typically has several running at once, so multiply by the number of sections in use. Use the calculator to swap in the numbers from your own model.

How Iowa compares

Iowa pays 15.93¢/kWh, the 23rd cheapest residential electricity of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions EIA reports. For this appliance that works out to $32.53 less a year than the typical U.S. household pays for the same use. Running the same electric baseboard heater costs $177 a year in Nevada and $712 in Hawaii, so where you live changes this bill by $535 a year.

State	Rate	Per month	Per year
South Carolina	15.55¢	$17.49	$210
Kansas	15.71¢	$17.67	$212
Iowa	15.93¢	$17.92	$215
Texas	15.94¢	$17.93	$215
Missouri	16.22¢	$18.25	$219

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

What else costs about the same in Iowa

Pool pump$275 a year in IA Garage refrigerator$143 a year in IA Space heater$138 a year in IA

Cutting the number down

Resistance heat is 1 kWh in, 1 kWh of heat out. There is no efficiency upgrade available; the only lever is running fewer of them, less often.
Furniture pushed against a baseboard blocks convection and makes the thermostat run the element longer.
Zoning by room is the built-in advantage. Turning unused rooms down to 55 F is where the savings live.

Questions

How much does an electric baseboard heater cost per month in Iowa?: About $17.92 a month, assuming 1,500 W at a 50% duty cycle, 12 hours a day, 150 days a year at 15.93¢/kWh.
How many kilowatt-hours does an electric baseboard heater use?: Roughly 1,350 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.75 kWh for every hour it runs.
Is that expensive compared with other states?: Iowa has the 23rd cheapest average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs less here than the U.S. average of $248 a year.