How much does a dehumidifier cost per month in California?

About $13.39 a month, assuming 500 W at a 60% duty cycle, 12 hours a day, 150 days a year at 29.75¢/kWh.

How many kilowatt-hours does a dehumidifier use?

Roughly 540 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.30 kWh for every hour it runs.

Is that expensive compared with other states?

California has the 4th most expensive average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs more here than the U.S. average of $98.06 a year.

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Cost to run a dehumidifier in California (August 2026 rates)

At 29.75¢ per kilowatt-hour — California's average residential price in August 2026 — running a dehumidifier costs $161 a year. That is 64% more than the national average of $98.06. California's residential rate is down 3.8% from August 2025, which moves this appliance from $167 to $161 a year.

Per hour: 8.9¢
Per day of use: $1.07
Per month: $13.39
Per year: $161

Assumption: 500 W at a 60% duty cycle, 12 hours a day, 150 days a year — 540 kWh a year. A 50-pint basement unit. Runtime is driven by humidity, not by a clock, so a damp basement can push the duty cycle near 1.0. Use the calculator to swap in the numbers from your own model.

How California compares

California pays 29.75¢/kWh, the 4th most expensive residential electricity of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions EIA reports. For this appliance that works out to $62.59 more a year than the typical U.S. household pays for the same use. Running the same dehumidifier costs $68.69 a year in Nevada and $255 in Hawaii, so where you live changes this bill by $186 a year.

State	Rate	Per month	Per year
New York	28.65¢	$12.89	$155
Alaska	29.41¢	$13.23	$159
California	29.75¢	$13.39	$161
Massachusetts	30.48¢	$13.72	$165
Maine	32.11¢	$14.45	$173

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

What else costs about the same in California

Well pump$163 a year in CA Gaming pc$174 a year in CA Aquarium$176 a year in CA

Cutting the number down

Fixing the water source — grading, gutters, a sealed crawlspace — retires the running cost entirely instead of paying it every summer.
Setting the humidistat to 50% instead of 35% cuts runtime sharply with no comfort or mold-risk penalty.
The heat a dehumidifier dumps into the room is a bonus in a basement and a cost upstairs in July.

Questions

How much does a dehumidifier cost per month in California?: About $13.39 a month, assuming 500 W at a 60% duty cycle, 12 hours a day, 150 days a year at 29.75¢/kWh.
How many kilowatt-hours does a dehumidifier use?: Roughly 540 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.30 kWh for every hour it runs.
Is that expensive compared with other states?: California has the 4th most expensive average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs more here than the U.S. average of $98.06 a year.