How much does an incandescent bulb cost per month in Washington?

About $1.36 a month, assuming 60 W, 5 hours a day, 365 days a year at 14.91¢/kWh.

How many kilowatt-hours does an incandescent bulb use?

Roughly 110 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.06 kWh for every hour it runs.

Is that expensive compared with other states?

Washington has the 13th cheapest average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs less here than the U.S. average of $20.08 a year.

Home › Incandescent bulb › Washington

Cost to run an incandescent bulb in Washington (June 2026 rates)

At 14.91¢ per kilowatt-hour — Washington's average residential price in June 2026 — running an incandescent bulb costs $16.33 a year. That is 19% less than the national average of $20.08. Washington's residential rate is up 15.0% from June 2025, which moves this appliance from $14.19 to $16.33 a year.

Per hour: 0.9¢
Per day of use: 4.5¢
Per month: $1.36
Per year: $16.33

Assumption: 60 W, 5 hours a day, 365 days a year — 110 kWh a year. A 60 W bulb producing roughly the same 800 lumens as a 9 W LED. Use the calculator to swap in the numbers from your own model.

How Washington compares

Washington pays 14.91¢/kWh, the 13th cheapest residential electricity of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions EIA reports. For this appliance that works out to $3.76 less a year than the typical U.S. household pays for the same use. Running the same incandescent bulb costs $14.36 a year in Nevada and $57.73 in Hawaii, so where you live changes this bill by $43.37 a year.

State	Rate	Per month	Per year
North Carolina	14.74¢	$1.35	$16.14
Mississippi	14.88¢	$1.36	$16.29
Washington	14.91¢	$1.36	$16.33
New Mexico	15.06¢	$1.37	$16.49
Florida	15.10¢	$1.38	$16.53

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

What else costs about the same in Washington

Microwave$16.33 a year in WA Electric kettle$16.33 a year in WA Box fan$16.77 a year in WA

Cutting the number down

The comparison is the point: identical light, nearly seven times the electricity, for the whole life of the bulb.
Replacing the handful of bulbs that burn the most hours captures most of the available saving immediately.

Questions

How much does an incandescent bulb cost per month in Washington?: About $1.36 a month, assuming 60 W, 5 hours a day, 365 days a year at 14.91¢/kWh.
How many kilowatt-hours does an incandescent bulb use?: Roughly 110 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.06 kWh for every hour it runs.
Is that expensive compared with other states?: Washington has the 13th cheapest average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs less here than the U.S. average of $20.08 a year.