Cost to run a hot tub in Iowa (August 2026 rates)
At 17.06¢ per kilowatt-hour — Iowa's average residential price in August 2026 — running a hot tub costs $426 a year. That is 6% less than the national average of $454. Iowa's residential rate is up 10.2% from August 2025, which moves this appliance from $387 to $426 a year.
- Per day
- $1.17
- Per month
- $35.54
- Per year
- $426
Assumption: 2,500 kWh a year. A well-insulated 400-gallon tub held at 100 F year-round in a moderate climate. A poorly insulated tub in a cold climate can double this. 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 $27.50 less a year than the typical U.S. household pays for the same use. Running the same hot tub costs $318 a year in Nevada and $1,180 in Hawaii, so where you live changes this bill by $862 a year.
| State | Rate | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Mexico | 16.51¢ | $34.40 | $413 |
| Indiana | 17.02¢ | $35.46 | $426 |
| Iowa | 17.06¢ | $35.54 | $426 |
| Colorado | 17.17¢ | $35.77 | $429 |
| Minnesota | 17.20¢ | $35.83 | $430 |
States ranked by average residential price, cheapest first. See all 51 states for a hot tub.
What else costs about the same in Iowa
Cutting the number down
- A good cover is the whole ballgame. Most of the energy replaces heat lost from the surface, not heat delivered to people.
- Holding temperature usually beats cooling down and reheating, because reheating a large mass of water is expensive.
- A waterlogged cover has lost its insulation value and quietly doubles the standing loss.
Questions
- How much does a hot tub cost per month in Iowa?
- About $35.54 a month, assuming 2,500 kWh a year at 17.06¢/kWh.
- How many kilowatt-hours does a hot tub use?
- Roughly 2,500 kWh a year under these assumptions.
- 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 $454 a year.