Home › Window air conditioner › New Jersey
Cost to run a window air conditioner in New Jersey (July 2026 rates)
At 25.19¢ per kilowatt-hour — New Jersey's average residential price in July 2026 — running a window air conditioner costs $174 a year. That is 38% more than the national average of $127. New Jersey's residential rate is down 0.5% from July 2025, which moves this appliance from $175 to $174 a year.
- Per hour
- 18.1¢
- Per day of use
- $1.45
- Per month
- $14.51
- Per year
- $174
Assumption: 900 W at a 80% duty cycle, 8 hours a day, 120 days a year — 691 kWh a year. Typical of a 10,000 BTU window unit. Small 5,000 BTU units draw closer to 500 W; 15,000 BTU units closer to 1,400 W. 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 $47.55 more a year than the typical U.S. household pays for the same use. Running the same window air conditioner costs $87.92 a year in Louisiana and $332 in Hawaii, so where you live changes this bill by $244 a year.
| State | Rate | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vermont | 23.75¢ | $13.68 | $164 |
| Connecticut | 24.16¢ | $13.92 | $167 |
| New Jersey | 25.19¢ | $14.51 | $174 |
| District of Columbia | 25.21¢ | $14.52 | $174 |
| New Hampshire | 26.60¢ | $15.32 | $184 |
States ranked by average residential price, cheapest first. See all 51 states for a window air conditioner.
What else costs about the same in New Jersey
Cutting the number down
- Sealing the gaps around the sleeve with foam matters more than the unit's efficiency rating. Warm air leaking back in is load you pay to remove twice.
- An inverter model modulates instead of slamming on and off, which shows up as a lower effective duty cycle rather than a lower nameplate watt.
- Shading the outdoor half of the unit lowers the temperature it rejects heat into, which lowers the work it has to do.
Questions
- How much does a window air conditioner cost per month in New Jersey?
- About $14.51 a month, assuming 900 W at a 80% duty cycle, 8 hours a day, 120 days a year at 25.19¢/kWh.
- How many kilowatt-hours does a window air conditioner use?
- Roughly 691 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.72 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 $127 a year.