How much does a 3D printer cost per month in Iowa?

About 92.1¢ a month, assuming 120 W at a 60% duty cycle, 6 hours a day, 150 days a year at 17.06¢/kWh.

How many kilowatt-hours does a 3D printer use?

Roughly 65 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.07 kWh for every hour it runs.

Is that expensive compared with other states?

Iowa has the 23rd most expensive average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs less here than the U.S. average of $11.77 a year.

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Cost to run a 3D printer in Iowa (August 2026 rates)

At 17.06¢ per kilowatt-hour — Iowa's average residential price in August 2026 — running a 3D printer costs $11.05 a year. That is 6% less than the national average of $11.77. Iowa's residential rate is up 10.2% from August 2025, which moves this appliance from $10.03 to $11.05 a year.

Per hour: 1.2¢
Per day of use: 7.4¢
Per month: 92.1¢
Per year: $11.05

Assumption: 120 W at a 60% duty cycle, 6 hours a day, 150 days a year — 65 kWh a year. A consumer FDM printer mid-print. The heated bed dominates the draw, and an enclosure lowers the duty cycle by holding heat in. Use the calculator to swap in the numbers from your own model.

How Iowa compares

Iowa pays 17.06¢/kWh, the 23rd most expensive residential electricity of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions EIA reports. For this appliance that works out to 71.3¢ less a year than the typical U.S. household pays for the same use. Running the same 3D printer costs $8.24 a year in Nevada and $30.57 in Hawaii, so where you live changes this bill by $22.33 a year.

State	Rate	Per month	Per year
New Mexico	16.51¢	89.2¢	$10.70
Indiana	17.02¢	91.9¢	$11.03
Iowa	17.06¢	92.1¢	$11.05
Colorado	17.17¢	92.7¢	$11.13
Minnesota	17.20¢	92.9¢	$11.15

States ranked by average residential price, cheapest first. See all 51 states for a 3D printer.

What else costs about the same in Iowa

Computer monitor$10.24 a year in IA Security camera$7.47 a year in IA Ceiling fan$14.74 a year in IA

Cutting the number down

The heated bed, not the hotend, is the load. Lowering bed temperature after the first layers cuts the average draw.
Long prints are cheap per hour but numerous: a week of continuous printing is a real line item.

Questions

How much does a 3D printer cost per month in Iowa?: About 92.1¢ a month, assuming 120 W at a 60% duty cycle, 6 hours a day, 150 days a year at 17.06¢/kWh.
How many kilowatt-hours does a 3D printer use?: Roughly 65 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.07 kWh for every hour it runs.
Is that expensive compared with other states?: Iowa has the 23rd most expensive average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs less here than the U.S. average of $11.77 a year.