How much does a string of Christmas lights cost per month in New York?

About 16.1¢ a month, assuming 25 W, 6 hours a day, 45 days a year at 28.65¢/kWh.

How many kilowatt-hours does a string of Christmas lights use?

Roughly 7 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.03 kWh for every hour it runs.

Is that expensive compared with other states?

New York has the 6th most expensive average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs more here than the U.S. average of $1.23 a year.

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Cost to run a string of Christmas lights in New York (August 2026 rates)

At 28.65¢ per kilowatt-hour — New York's average residential price in August 2026 — running a string of Christmas lights costs $1.93 a year. That is 58% more than the national average of $1.23. New York's residential rate is up 7.5% from August 2025, which moves this appliance from $1.80 to $1.93 a year.

Per hour: 0.7¢
Per day of use: 4.3¢
Per month: 16.1¢
Per year: $1.93

Assumption: 25 W, 6 hours a day, 45 days a year — 7 kWh a year. Per 100-count LED string. A 100-count incandescent string draws roughly 40 W, and older C9 bulbs far more. Use the calculator to swap in the numbers from your own model.

How New York compares

New York pays 28.65¢/kWh, the 6th most expensive residential electricity of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions EIA reports. For this appliance that works out to 70.8¢ more a year than the typical U.S. household pays for the same use. Running the same string of Christmas lights costs 85.9¢ a year in Nevada and $3.18 in Hawaii, so where you live changes this bill by $2.33 a year.

State	Rate	Per month	Per year
New Hampshire	27.64¢	15.5¢	$1.87
Rhode Island	28.18¢	15.9¢	$1.90
New York	28.65¢	16.1¢	$1.93
Alaska	29.41¢	16.5¢	$1.99
California	29.75¢	16.7¢	$2.01

States ranked by average residential price, cheapest first. See all 51 states for a string of Christmas lights.

What else costs about the same in New York

Led bulb$4.71 a year in NY Clothes iron$4.73 a year in NY Smart speaker$7.53 a year in NY

Cutting the number down

A timer that runs the display six hours instead of twelve halves the season's cost with nobody noticing.
Incandescent strings are where holiday bills come from; LED strings of the same length are a fraction of the draw.

Questions

How much does a string of Christmas lights cost per month in New York?: About 16.1¢ a month, assuming 25 W, 6 hours a day, 45 days a year at 28.65¢/kWh.
How many kilowatt-hours does a string of Christmas lights use?: Roughly 7 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.03 kWh for every hour it runs.
Is that expensive compared with other states?: New York has the 6th most expensive average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs more here than the U.S. average of $1.23 a year.