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How much does it cost to run a microwave?

Work out what any appliance costs to run per use, per month and per year on your own electricity rate — including what it draws on standby. Rates for all 50 states.

Showing US rates
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Using the US average of 18.44¢/kWh — the U.S. Energy Information Administration, May 2026.

The 1,200 W here is what the microwave DRAWS, not the 900 W of cooking power on the front of it. The detail below explains why those are different numbers.

Rates vary widely across US — picking yours makes the answer far closer.
Wattage is on the rating plate or in the manual. Washing machines and dishwashers usually quote kWh per cycle instead.
Usage
W
min
kWh
Your tariff
¢/kWh
On your bill or in your online account. If you do not know it, the average for your area is filled in already.
W
Leave at 0 if you unplug it. Most things with a clock, light or remote draw 0.5–3 W.
Cost per use $0.03
Cost per year $24.71
Cost per month $2.06
Energy per use 0.16 kWh
Energy per year 134 kWh
Of which standby $3.23

Common cases

What drives the cost

The number on the front of a microwave is not the number on the meter. A microwave sold as 900 W delivers 900 W of cooking power into the food, but draws more like 1,200 to 1,400 W from the wall to do it, because the magnetron and its transformer are not perfectly efficient. That is why the wattage here is the higher figure — the label people quote is the output, and the bill is charged on the input.

Even so, a microwave is one of the cheapest ways to heat food, because it puts the energy into the food rather than into the air, the dish and the oven walls. Reheating a plate for three minutes costs a fraction of a penny. Compare it against the electric oven page: for anything small, the oven's twenty-minute preheat costs more than the entire microwave cycle.

How this is worked out

Electricity is billed per kilowatt hour. An appliance's kilowatt hours are its power in kilowatts multiplied by the hours it runs — so a 2,000 W appliance running for 30 minutes uses 1 kWh. Multiply that by your rate and you have the cost. The fixed monthly customer charge your utility adds is not included, because you pay it whether or not you switch anything on.

What this assumes

  • The appliance draws its rated power for the whole time it is on. Anything thermostatically controlled — ovens, heaters, refrigerators, air conditioners — cycles on and off, so the real figure is lower.
  • Your rate is flat all day. On a time-of-use plan the same appliance costs materially different amounts depending on when you run it, and peak rates can be several times the off-peak rate.
  • State averages come from the EIA and blend every utility in that state. Your own utility may be meaningfully above or below it, so use your bill where you can.
  • A year is 52 weeks of identical use, which overstates seasonal appliances and understates ones you use in bursts.
  • The rate filled in for you is an average that spreads fixed charges across a year's usage, so it sits above what one extra unit really costs. Entering the unit rate from your own bill gives a closer answer.

Questions

Why does my microwave say 900 W but use 1,400 W?

Because those measure different things. The 900 W is cooking power — the energy actually delivered into the food. The higher figure is what the appliance draws from the socket, and the difference is lost as heat in the magnetron and transformer. The rating plate on the back gives the input figure, which is the one your meter sees.

Is a microwave cheaper than an oven?

For small quantities, dramatically. An oven has to heat a large insulated box and everything in it before the food gets warm, and most of that heat is thrown away when the door opens. A microwave heats the food and almost nothing else. For a full roast the oven wins, because a microwave cannot do the job at all — but for reheating, it is not close.

Does this include the monthly service charge?

No, deliberately. The fixed customer charge is billed for being connected at all, so it does not change when you run an appliance more or less. Including it would make every appliance look more expensive than it is.

Why is the default rate different from what I pay?

The figure filled in is the EIA state average across all utilities in your state. Rates inside a single state can vary widely between a municipal utility and an investor-owned one, so your bill is always the better number.

Where do I find the wattage?

On the nameplate — usually a label on the back, base or inside the door — or in the manual. It is written as W or kW. If it only lists amps, multiply amps by 120 for a standard outlet, or 240 for a large appliance circuit.

Sources

Rates from U.S. EIA for May 2026. Last reviewed September 3, 2026.