Cost to run an aquarium in Texas (August 2026 rates)
At 15.91¢ per kilowatt-hour — Texas's average residential price in August 2026 — running an aquarium costs $94.08 a year. That is 12% less than the national average of $107. Texas's residential rate is up 3.3% from August 2025, which moves this appliance from $91.06 to $94.08 a year.
- Per hour
- 1.1¢
- Per day of use
- 25.8¢
- Per month
- $7.84
- Per year
- $94.08
Assumption: 150 W at a 45% duty cycle, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year — 591 kWh a year. A 55-gallon tank: heater, filter and light combined, averaged over a day. Use the calculator to swap in the numbers from your own model.
How Texas compares
Texas pays 15.91¢/kWh, the 22nd cheapest residential electricity of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions EIA reports. For this appliance that works out to $13.30 less a year than the typical U.S. household pays for the same use. Running the same aquarium costs $75.21 a year in Nevada and $279 in Hawaii, so where you live changes this bill by $204 a year.
| State | Rate | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Carolina | 15.76¢ | $7.77 | $93.19 |
| Georgia | 15.90¢ | $7.83 | $94.02 |
| Texas | 15.91¢ | $7.84 | $94.08 |
| Oregon | 15.92¢ | $7.84 | $94.13 |
| Missouri | 16.02¢ | $7.89 | $94.73 |
States ranked by average residential price, cheapest first. See all 51 states for an aquarium.
What else costs about the same in Texas
Cutting the number down
- The heater is nearly all of it, and its runtime depends on the room. A tank in a cool room costs more to keep warm.
- Insulating the back and sides of the tank cuts heater runtime without changing the view.
- A lid limits evaporative heat loss, which is the main way an open tank sheds the warmth you paid for.
Questions
- How much does an aquarium cost per month in Texas?
- About $7.84 a month, assuming 150 W at a 45% duty cycle, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year at 15.91¢/kWh.
- How many kilowatt-hours does an aquarium use?
- Roughly 591 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.07 kWh for every hour it runs.
- Is that expensive compared with other states?
- Texas has the 22nd cheapest average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs less here than the U.S. average of $107 a year.