What does an electric leaf blower cost to run?

Half an hour, about twenty-five times a year. At the US average rate of 18.34¢ per kilowatt-hour that is $2.52 a year.

Tools, hobbies and outdoors · Rated 1,100 W · 100% duty cycle

Running cost, US average rate

$2.52a year

14 kWh a year · $0.21 a month · 1100 W average draw

Rated 1,100 W, drawing that for 100% of the 0.5 hours a day it is in service, 25 days a year.

1,100 W while running never cycles — the plate is right for once

Run the numbers on your own use

Change any of these and the figures update. The defaults are the typical case described above; your rate is the input that moves the answer most.

Residential average for June 2026, from the EIA. Your own tariff may differ; you can read it off your bill.

1100 W
100%
0.5 h/day
25 days/yr
A year
$2.52
A month
$0.21
Electricity
14 kWh
Average draw
1100 W

In the US average at 18.34¢ per kWh. Nameplate arithmetic would say 14 kWh too high.

Why this is lower than the number you will see elsewhere

Almost every published answer to this question multiplies the rating on the label by the hours the appliance is switched on. For an electric leaf blower that gives 14 kWh a year, or $2.52.

Full draw whenever the trigger is held, which is most of the time it is in use.

Nameplate × hours — the usual answer14 kWh$2.52
What it actually draws14 kWh$2.52

The arithmetic, step by step

Nothing here is hidden, so you can check it or change it. Working in the order the formula runs:

  1. 1,100 W — what it draws while it is actually drawing. This is the rating on the plate.
  2. × 100% — the share of its in-service time it is really pulling that. Full draw whenever the trigger is held, which is most of the time it is in use.
    That gives 1100 W averaged across the hours it is on.
  3. × 0.5 hours a day × 25 days — Half an hour, about twenty-five times a year.
    1100 × 0.5 × 25 ÷ 1,000 = 14 kWh a year.
  4. × 18.34¢ — the US average residential rate for June 2026.
    14 kWh × 18.34¢ = $2.52 a year.

Change any assumption in the calculator above and every figure on this page moves with it. The two that matter most are your rate, which varies 4× across the country, and the hours — the duty cycle is a property of the appliance, but the hours are a property of you.

How sensitive is that number?

A single figure invites more confidence than it deserves. Here is the same appliance under assumptions either side of the default, so you can see how much of the answer is the appliance and how much is the guess about how you use it.

Everything else held at the default. The spread here is the honest error bar on the headline figure.

If…ElectricityA yearvs default
You use it half as much (0.25 h/day)6.9 kWh$1.26-50%
You use it 50% more (0.75 h/day)21 kWh$3.78+50%
It is a smaller unit (600 W)7.5 kWh$1.38-45%
It is a larger unit (1,600 W)20 kWh$3.67+45%
You are in Nevada (13.11¢)14 kWh$1.80-29%
You are in Hawaii (52.72¢)14 kWh$7.25+187%

What it costs per hour, day and month

At 18.34¢ per kWh, the US residential average for June 2026.

PeriodElectricityCost
Per hour in use1.1 kWh20.2¢
Per day in use0.6 kWh$0.10
Per month1.1 kWh$0.21
Per year14 kWh$2.52
Over ten years138 kWh$25

The thing worth knowing

Around a dollar and a half a year. It is here to make a point about scale: people ask about leaf blowers and never about the radon fan in the attic, which costs sixty times as much and runs unattended. Attention tends to follow noise rather than consumption.

What it costs in your state

The appliance is the same everywhere; the rate is not. Running this electric leaf blower costs $7.25 a year in Hawaii and $1.80 in Nevada — a difference of 4×.

Cost of running one electric leaf blower for a year, by state. Residential average price, EIA June 2026.

StateRatePer yearPer month
Hawaii52.72¢$7.25$0.60
California34.74¢$4.78$0.40
Massachusetts29.61¢$4.07$0.34
Maine29.59¢$4.07$0.34
New York29.49¢$4.05$0.34
Rhode Island29.23¢$4.02$0.33
Alaska28.21¢$3.88$0.32
New Hampshire27.01¢$3.71$0.31
New Jersey24.95¢$3.43$0.29
Vermont24.44¢$3.36$0.28
District of Columbia24.39¢$3.35$0.28
Connecticut24.32¢$3.34$0.28
Michigan22.99¢$3.16$0.26
Maryland21.84¢$3.00$0.25
Pennsylvania21.73¢$2.99$0.25
Illinois19.89¢$2.73$0.23
Wisconsin19.56¢$2.69$0.22
Delaware19.29¢$2.65$0.22
Ohio19.19¢$2.64$0.22
Minnesota17.52¢$2.41$0.20
Indiana17.51¢$2.41$0.20
Virginia17.22¢$2.37$0.20
Colorado17.13¢$2.36$0.20
Alabama16.4¢$2.26$0.19
Georgia16.36¢$2.25$0.19
Oregon16.32¢$2.24$0.19
Missouri16.22¢$2.23$0.19
Texas15.94¢$2.19$0.18
Iowa15.93¢$2.19$0.18
Kansas15.71¢$2.16$0.18
South Carolina15.55¢$2.14$0.18
West Virginia15.45¢$2.12$0.18
South Dakota15.36¢$2.11$0.18
Wyoming15.24¢$2.10$0.17
Arizona15.18¢$2.09$0.17
Montana15.14¢$2.08$0.17
Florida15.1¢$2.08$0.17
New Mexico15.06¢$2.07$0.17
Washington14.91¢$2.05$0.17
Mississippi14.88¢$2.05$0.17
North Carolina14.74¢$2.03$0.17
Idaho14.37¢$1.98$0.16
Oklahoma14.33¢$1.97$0.16
Kentucky14.26¢$1.96$0.16
Arkansas14.12¢$1.94$0.16
North Dakota14.12¢$1.94$0.16
Tennessee14.07¢$1.93$0.16
Louisiana13.49¢$1.85$0.15
Utah13.37¢$1.84$0.15
Nebraska13.25¢$1.82$0.15
Nevada13.11¢$1.80$0.15

Questions

How much electricity does an electric leaf blower use?
About 14 kWh a year on the assumptions above — half an hour, about twenty-five times a year. That works out to an average draw of 1100 W over the hours it is in service, against a rated 1,100 W.
Is it expensive to run an electric leaf blower?
At the US average residential rate of 18.34¢ per kWh it costs about $2.52 a year, or $0.21 a month. The same appliance costs about $1.80 a year in Nevada and $7.25 in Hawaii, because the rate matters more than the appliance.
Why is your figure lower than other sites?
Because 1,100 W is what the appliance draws while it is actually drawing, not the average over the time it is switched on. Full draw whenever the trigger is held, which is most of the time it is in use. Multiplying the rating by the hours gives 14 kWh a year, which is 1× the real figure.
What is the cheapest way to run an electric leaf blower?
A rake, which costs nothing and annoys the neighbours less.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A, June 2026. U.S. Government work, public domain.

How every figure on this page is computed · Where the data comes from