How much does a gaming PC cost per month in California?

About $16.36 a month, assuming 400 W, 4 hours a day, 365 days a year at 33.61¢/kWh.

How many kilowatt-hours does a gaming PC use?

Roughly 584 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.40 kWh for every hour it runs.

Is that expensive compared with other states?

California has the 2nd most expensive average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs more here than the U.S. average of $107 a year.

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Cost to run a gaming PC in California (July 2026 rates)

At 33.61¢ per kilowatt-hour — California's average residential price in July 2026 — running a gaming PC costs $196 a year. That is 84% more than the national average of $107. California's residential rate is up 2.9% from July 2025, which moves this appliance from $191 to $196 a year.

Per hour: 13.4¢
Per day of use: 53.8¢
Per month: $16.36
Per year: $196

Assumption: 400 W, 4 hours a day, 365 days a year — 584 kWh a year. Under load with a mid-to-high-end GPU. Idling at the desktop is closer to 80 W, and the monitor is on top of this. Use the calculator to swap in the numbers from your own model.

How California compares

California pays 33.61¢/kWh, the 2nd most expensive residential electricity of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions EIA reports. For this appliance that works out to $89.35 more a year than the typical U.S. household pays for the same use. Running the same gaming PC costs $74.28 a year in Louisiana and $280 in Hawaii, so where you live changes this bill by $206 a year.

State	Rate	Per month	Per year
New York	29.90¢	$14.55	$175
Massachusetts	30.49¢	$14.84	$178
Maine	32.41¢	$15.77	$189
California	33.61¢	$16.36	$196
Hawaii	48.00¢	$23.36	$280

States ranked by average residential price, cheapest first. See all 51 states for a gaming PC.

What else costs about the same in California

Aquarium$199 a year in CA Well pump$184 a year in CA Dehumidifier$181 a year in CA

Cutting the number down

Capping frame rate to the monitor's refresh rate cuts GPU draw substantially with no visible difference.
Sleep rather than idle: a machine left at the desktop overnight can use more in a year than the gaming itself.
Undervolting a modern GPU typically trims power meaningfully at near-identical performance.

Questions

How much does a gaming PC cost per month in California?: About $16.36 a month, assuming 400 W, 4 hours a day, 365 days a year at 33.61¢/kWh.
How many kilowatt-hours does a gaming PC use?: Roughly 584 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.40 kWh for every hour it runs.
Is that expensive compared with other states?: California has the 2nd most expensive average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs more here than the U.S. average of $107 a year.