Cost to run an LED bulb in New York (July 2026 rates)
At 29.90¢ per kilowatt-hour — New York's average residential price in July 2026 — running an LED bulb costs $4.91 a year. That is 63% more than the national average of $3.01. New York's residential rate is up 14.0% from July 2025, which moves this appliance from $4.31 to $4.91 a year.
- Per hour
- 0.3¢
- Per day of use
- 1.3¢
- Per month
- 40.9¢
- Per year
- $4.91
Assumption: 9 W, 5 hours a day, 365 days a year — 16 kWh a year. A 9 W LED producing about 800 lumens, the equivalent of an old 60 W incandescent. Use the calculator to swap in the numbers from your own model.
How New York compares
New York pays 29.90¢/kWh, the 5th most expensive residential electricity of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions EIA reports. For this appliance that works out to $1.90 more a year than the typical U.S. household pays for the same use. Running the same LED bulb costs $2.09 a year in Louisiana and $7.88 in Hawaii, so where you live changes this bill by $5.79 a year.
| State | Rate | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rhode Island | 28.29¢ | 38.7¢ | $4.65 |
| Alaska | 28.83¢ | 39.5¢ | $4.74 |
| New York | 29.90¢ | 40.9¢ | $4.91 |
| Massachusetts | 30.49¢ | 41.7¢ | $5.01 |
| Maine | 32.41¢ | 44.4¢ | $5.32 |
States ranked by average residential price, cheapest first. See all 51 states for an LED bulb.
What else costs about the same in New York
Cutting the number down
- Per bulb the cost is trivial; a house has 40 of them, and that is the number that matters.
- Dimming an LED does cut power draw, though not perfectly in proportion to the light output.
Questions
- How much does an LED bulb cost per month in New York?
- About 40.9¢ a month, assuming 9 W, 5 hours a day, 365 days a year at 29.90¢/kWh.
- How many kilowatt-hours does an LED bulb use?
- Roughly 16 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.01 kWh for every hour it runs.
- Is that expensive compared with other states?
- New York has the 5th most expensive average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs more here than the U.S. average of $3.01 a year.