How many kWh does a house use? EIA averages and your own number

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How many kWh does a house use? The average U.S. house uses about 863 kWh of electricity a month, which is roughly 28 kWh a day or 10,359 kWh a year. That figure comes from the U.S. Energy Information Administration's 2024 state sales data; the daily and yearly numbers are our arithmetic. EIA's own FAQ on household use quotes an older year, 2022: 10,791 kWh a year, "an average of about 899 kWh per month." Where you live changes the answer a lot. In 2024, Louisiana homes averaged about 1,202 kWh a month and Hawaii homes about 495.

How many kWh does a house use per month and per day?

EIA has two national figures in circulation, from different years.

Table 5A, part of EIA's electricity sales, revenue and average price release, is newer. It lists 143,144,185 residential customers with an "Average Monthly Consumption" of 863 kWh. Per-day figures come from multiplying the monthly number by 12 and dividing by 365.

The two figures cover different years, so they won't match exactly. EIA's Energy Explained page notes that "the shares of annual electricity end uses can change from year to year based on the weather."

Average kWh usage per month by state

EIA's 2024 Table 5A breaks the average down by state. Here is a selection: the six highest-use states, a few others, and the lowest:

Monthly figures are rounded from EIA's table, and it lists every state. The FAQ shows the same pattern for 2022: "Louisiana had the highest annual electricity purchases per residential customer at 14,774 kWh," and "Hawaii had the lowest at 6,178 kWh."

The split mostly follows climate and heating fuel. EIA says "homes in the South are more likely to have electric heating and use more air conditioning." A home that heats with gas or oil doesn't see that heat on its electric bill. Prices differ widely as well: Table 5A lists Hawaii at 42.9 and California at 32.0 cents per kWh in 2024, against a U.S. average of 16.5. And as EIA's caveat above says, states with many net-metered rooftop systems show lower purchases than actual use.

How to find your own kWh usage

A state average gets you in the right range. Your bills give the actual number.

1. Find the kWh line. Look for the kilowatt-hours used in the billing period, not the dollar total.
2. Collect twelve months. Gather a full year of bills, or ask your utility for the history. One month on its own can mislead, since heating and cooling use rise and fall with the seasons.
3. Add them up. That sum is your annual use. Divide by 12 for a monthly average, or by 365 for a daily one.
4. Adjust for what's changing. If you've added an electric car or a heat pump, or plan to, last year's total understates next year's.

If you already have solar, your bill shows net grid use rather than total use, for the reason EIA gives above. The inverter's app or monitoring portal shows what the panels produced.

What makes a house use more (or less) electricity

EIA's Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) splits home electricity by end use. The 2020 survey is the latest with end-use detail; EIA plans to release the full 2024 data in spring 2027. In 2020, per EIA, the three biggest uses were:

• Air conditioning, 19%. It goes a long way toward explaining why Southern homes top the state table.
• Space heating, 12%.
• Water heating, 12%.

After those, EIA says lighting and refrigerators are the next two largest uses, since nearly every home has both.

An electric car can add a lot. The Department of Energy's Alternative Fuels Data Center uses an example vehicle that "consumes 27 kWh to travel 100 miles." At that rate, driving 1,000 miles a month adds about 270 kWh, close to a third of the national average (our arithmetic on DOE's example; your car's rating and driving will differ).

House size, the number of people at home, and how well the walls, attic and ducts hold heat or cool air all matter too. Two neighbors in the same state can easily land far apart.

Why solar sizing starts with this number

A solar array is sized against your yearly kWh. Our guide on how many solar panels you need walks through the sizing math, and how much energy a solar panel produces gives the production side city by city.

So every kWh you cut before sizing is a kWh you don't have to buy panels for. The Department of Energy's homeowner's guide to going solar puts it this way: "energy efficiency upgrades complement solar energy economically," and with efficient appliances "you'll need less solar energy to power your home." A smaller system also means less roof space, which our page on solar panel size covers.

It cuts the other way too. If you expect to add a big load, like an EV or a switch from gas to electric heat, a system sized only to last year's bills will come up short. That's a fair reason for a larger array. It's also an easy claim to stretch in a sales pitch, so it's reasonable to ask an installer which loads their size assumes.

Bottom line

EIA's latest state data put the average U.S. home at about 863 kWh a month in 2024, roughly 28 kWh a day by our arithmetic. Its FAQ gives 899 kWh a month for 2022. State averages ran from about 495 kWh a month in Hawaii to about 1,202 in Louisiana, mostly because of air conditioning and electric heat. For solar, the national average doesn't matter much. What matters is your own twelve-month total, after any waste is cut and with any planned loads added. Once you have it, you can compare it with what solar costs to install.

Common questions

How many kWh does an average house use per month?

In EIA's 2024 state sales data, the average U.S. residential customer used about 863 kWh a month. EIA's FAQ, which uses 2022 data, gives 10,791 kWh a year, or about 899 kWh a month.

How many kWh per day is normal for a house?

Around 28 kWh a day on the 2024 national average (863 kWh a month × 12 ÷ 365, our arithmetic). State averages ran from about 16 kWh a day in Hawaii to about 40 in Louisiana, so normal depends heavily on where you live.

Which state uses the most electricity per home?

Louisiana. In EIA's 2024 table its residential customers averaged about 1,202 kWh a month, and EIA's FAQ also names Louisiana the highest for 2022 at 14,774 kWh a year. Hawaii was the lowest in both.

What uses the most electricity in a house?

In EIA's 2020 Residential Energy Consumption Survey, air conditioning was the largest share of home electricity use at 19%, followed by space heating and water heating at 12% each.

Does the EIA average include homes with solar panels?

It counts electricity bought from the grid. EIA notes that purchases may not represent total consumption for homes with rooftop solar, because net-metered systems reduce what a household buys.

Sources

1. U.S. Energy Information Administration: How much electricity does an American home use? (FAQ)
2. U.S. Energy Information Administration: Electricity sales, revenue and average price (2024 data)
3. U.S. Energy Information Administration: 2024 Table 5A, residential average monthly consumption and bill by state
4. U.S. Energy Information Administration: Electricity use in homes (Energy Explained)
5. U.S. Energy Information Administration: Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS)
6. U.S. Department of Energy, Alternative Fuels Data Center: Charging plug-in electric vehicles at home
7. U.S. Department of Energy: Homeowner's guide to going solar

By SolarRealCost Editorial Team. First published November 7, 2026. Advertiser disclosure