What does a microwave oven cost to run?

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.

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 a microwave oven that gives 110 kWh a year, or $20.

At full power the magnetron is on continuously. At lower power settings it pulses, which is what a power level actually does.

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. 1,200 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. At full power the magnetron is on continuously. At lower power settings it pulses, which is what a power level actually does.
   That gives 1200 W averaged across the hours it is on.
3. × 0.25 hours a day × 365 days — About 15 minutes a day.
   1200 × 0.25 × 365 ÷ 1,000 = 110 kWh a year.
4. + standby — 3 W for the other 23.8 hours a day, which is 26 kWh a year. People leave this out and it is not always small.
5. × 18.34¢ — the US average residential rate for June 2026.
   136 kWh × 18.34¢ = $25 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.

What it costs per hour, day and month

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

The thing worth knowing

Input watts and cooking watts are different numbers. A ‘1,000 W' microwave delivers 1,000 W of microwave energy and draws around 1,500 W from the wall, so sizing from the advertised figure understates it by half. The clock display runs all 8,760 hours of the year and adds roughly a quarter again on top of the cooking.

What it costs in your state

The appliance is the same everywhere; the rate is not. Running this microwave oven costs $71 a year in Hawaii and $18 in Nevada — a difference of 4×.

Cost of running one microwave oven for a year, by state. Residential average price, EIA June 2026.

Other kitchen costs

• Standalone ice maker

  $253 a year

  An undercounter unit kept switched on year round.

• Wine cellar cooling unit

  $239 a year

  A through-wall unit holding a small purpose-built cellar at 55°F.

• Garage refrigerator

  $130 a year

  An older second fridge in an unconditioned garage.

• Refrigerator

  $77 a year

  A modern 20 cu ft top-freezer, kitchen at normal room temperature.

• Kegerator

  $64 a year

  A single-tap unit kept at serving temperature year round.

• Chest freezer

  $63 a year

  A 15 cu ft chest freezer in a garage.

Questions

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