How much does a window air conditioner cost per month in New Jersey?

About $14.18 a month, assuming 900 W at a 80% duty cycle, 8 hours a day, 120 days a year at 24.61¢/kWh.

How many kilowatt-hours does a window air conditioner use?

Roughly 691 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.72 kWh for every hour it runs.

Is that expensive compared with other states?

New Jersey has the 10th most expensive average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs more here than the U.S. average of $126 a year.

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Cost to run a window air conditioner in New Jersey (August 2026 rates)

At 24.61¢ per kilowatt-hour — New Jersey's average residential price in August 2026 — running a window air conditioner costs $170 a year. That is 36% more than the national average of $126.

Per hour: 17.7¢
Per day of use: $1.42
Per month: $14.18
Per year: $170

Assumption: 900 W at a 80% duty cycle, 8 hours a day, 120 days a year — 691 kWh a year. Typical of a 10,000 BTU window unit. Small 5,000 BTU units draw closer to 500 W; 15,000 BTU units closer to 1,400 W. Use the calculator to swap in the numbers from your own model.

How New Jersey compares

New Jersey pays 24.61¢/kWh, the 10th most expensive residential electricity of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions EIA reports. For this appliance that works out to $44.58 more a year than the typical U.S. household pays for the same use. Running the same window air conditioner costs $87.92 a year in Nevada and $326 in Hawaii, so where you live changes this bill by $238 a year.

State	Rate	Per month	Per year
Vermont	23.84¢	$13.73	$165
Connecticut	24.51¢	$14.12	$169
New Jersey	24.61¢	$14.18	$170
District of Columbia	25.98¢	$14.96	$180
New Hampshire	27.64¢	$15.92	$191

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

What else costs about the same in New Jersey

Electric clothes dryer$192 a year in NJ Aquarium$146 a year in NJ Gaming pc$144 a year in NJ

Cutting the number down

Sealing the gaps around the sleeve with foam matters more than the unit's efficiency rating. Warm air leaking back in is load you pay to remove twice.
An inverter model modulates instead of slamming on and off, which shows up as a lower effective duty cycle rather than a lower nameplate watt.
Shading the outdoor half of the unit lowers the temperature it rejects heat into, which lowers the work it has to do.

Questions

How much does a window air conditioner cost per month in New Jersey?: About $14.18 a month, assuming 900 W at a 80% duty cycle, 8 hours a day, 120 days a year at 24.61¢/kWh.
How many kilowatt-hours does a window air conditioner use?: Roughly 691 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.72 kWh for every hour it runs.
Is that expensive compared with other states?: New Jersey has the 10th most expensive average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs more here than the U.S. average of $126 a year.