How much does an LED bulb cost per month in California?

About 47.6¢ a month, assuming 9 W, 5 hours a day, 365 days a year at 34.74¢/kWh.

How many kilowatt-hours does an LED bulb use?

Roughly 16 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.01 kWh for every hour it runs.

Is that expensive compared with other states?

California has the 2nd most expensive average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs more here than the U.S. average of $3.01 a year.

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Cost to run an LED bulb in California (June 2026 rates)

At 34.74¢ per kilowatt-hour — California's average residential price in June 2026 — running an LED bulb costs $5.71 a year. That is 89% more than the national average of $3.01. California's residential rate is up 3.4% from June 2025, which moves this appliance from $5.52 to $5.71 a year.

Per hour: 0.3¢
Per day of use: 1.6¢
Per month: 47.6¢
Per year: $5.71

Assumption: 9 W, 5 hours a day, 365 days a year — 16 kWh a year. A 9 W LED producing about 800 lumens, the equivalent of an old 60 W incandescent. Use the calculator to swap in the numbers from your own model.

How California compares

California pays 34.74¢/kWh, the 2nd most expensive residential electricity of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions EIA reports. For this appliance that works out to $2.69 more a year than the typical U.S. household pays for the same use. Running the same LED bulb costs $2.15 a year in Nevada and $8.66 in Hawaii, so where you live changes this bill by $6.51 a year.

State	Rate	Per month	Per year
New York	29.49¢	40.4¢	$4.84
Maine	29.59¢	40.5¢	$4.86
Massachusetts	29.61¢	40.5¢	$4.86
California	34.74¢	47.6¢	$5.71
Hawaii	52.72¢	72.2¢	$8.66

States ranked by average residential price, cheapest first. See all 51 states for an LED bulb.

What else costs about the same in California

Clothes iron$5.73 a year in CA String of christmas lights$2.34 a year in CA Smart speaker$9.13 a year in CA

Cutting the number down

Per bulb the cost is trivial; a house has 40 of them, and that is the number that matters.
Dimming an LED does cut power draw, though not perfectly in proportion to the light output.

Questions

How much does an LED bulb cost per month in California?: About 47.6¢ a month, assuming 9 W, 5 hours a day, 365 days a year at 34.74¢/kWh.
How many kilowatt-hours does an LED bulb use?: Roughly 16 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.01 kWh for every hour it runs.
Is that expensive compared with other states?: California has the 2nd most expensive average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs more here than the U.S. average of $3.01 a year.