How much does a desktop computer cost per month in Illinois?

About $6.63 a month, assuming 200 W, 8 hours a day, 250 days a year at 19.89¢/kWh.

How many kilowatt-hours does a desktop computer use?

Roughly 400 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.20 kWh for every hour it runs.

Is that expensive compared with other states?

Illinois has the 16th most expensive average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs more here than the U.S. average of $73.36 a year.

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Cost to run a desktop computer in Illinois (June 2026 rates)

At 19.89¢ per kilowatt-hour — Illinois's average residential price in June 2026 — running a desktop computer costs $79.56 a year. That is 8% more than the national average of $73.36. Illinois's residential rate is up 8.7% from June 2025, which moves this appliance from $73.16 to $79.56 a year.

Per hour: 4.0¢
Per day of use: 31.8¢
Per month: $6.63
Per year: $79.56

Assumption: 200 W, 8 hours a day, 250 days a year — 400 kWh a year. An office-class tower plus monitor, doing ordinary work. Use the calculator to swap in the numbers from your own model.

How Illinois compares

Illinois pays 19.89¢/kWh, the 16th most expensive residential electricity of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions EIA reports. For this appliance that works out to $6.20 more a year than the typical U.S. household pays for the same use. Running the same desktop computer costs $52.44 a year in Nevada and $211 in Hawaii, so where you live changes this bill by $158 a year.

State	Rate	Per month	Per year
Delaware	19.29¢	$6.43	$77.16
Wisconsin	19.56¢	$6.52	$78.24
Illinois	19.89¢	$6.63	$79.56
Pennsylvania	21.73¢	$7.24	$86.92
Maryland	21.84¢	$7.28	$87.36

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

What else costs about the same in Illinois

Refrigerator$79.56 a year in IL Air purifier$87.12 a year in IL Electric oven$66.19 a year in IL

Cutting the number down

Sleep after 15 minutes idle is the default with the largest payoff and the smallest downside.
Screensavers do not save energy; a display running a 3D animation costs more than a blank screen.

Questions

How much does a desktop computer cost per month in Illinois?: About $6.63 a month, assuming 200 W, 8 hours a day, 250 days a year at 19.89¢/kWh.
How many kilowatt-hours does a desktop computer use?: Roughly 400 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.20 kWh for every hour it runs.
Is that expensive compared with other states?: Illinois has the 16th most expensive average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs more here than the U.S. average of $73.36 a year.