Cost to run an LED bulb in New York (August 2026 rates)
At 28.65¢ per kilowatt-hour — New York's average residential price in August 2026 — running an LED bulb costs $4.71 a year. That is 58% more than the national average of $2.98. New York's residential rate is up 7.5% from August 2025, which moves this appliance from $4.38 to $4.71 a year.
- Per hour
- 0.3¢
- Per day of use
- 1.3¢
- Per month
- 39.2¢
- Per year
- $4.71
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 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 $1.72 more a year than the typical U.S. household pays for the same use. Running the same LED bulb costs $2.09 a year in Nevada and $7.75 in Hawaii, so where you live changes this bill by $5.66 a year.
| State | Rate | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Hampshire | 27.64¢ | 37.8¢ | $4.54 |
| Rhode Island | 28.18¢ | 38.6¢ | $4.63 |
| New York | 28.65¢ | 39.2¢ | $4.71 |
| Alaska | 29.41¢ | 40.3¢ | $4.83 |
| California | 29.75¢ | 40.7¢ | $4.89 |
States ranked by average residential price, cheapest first. See all 51 states for an LED bulb.
What else costs about the same in New York
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 New York?
- About 39.2¢ a month, assuming 9 W, 5 hours a day, 365 days a year at 28.65¢/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?
- 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 $2.98 a year.