A ceiling fan does not cool a room. It cools people, by moving air across skin so sweat evaporates faster. Leave one running in an empty room and you have added heat, not removed it, because the motor turns some of its electricity into warmth. That distinction is the whole basis for using fans well.
A typical ceiling fan draws about 60 W on medium, which is $0.01 an hour at 18.44ยข per kWh. Running eight hours a day for a month costs $2.66. Modern DC-motor fans on low can drop under 10 W, which is genuinely negligible; older AC fans on high can reach 120 W.
Calculate it for your own ceiling fan
Change any box. The result updates as you type.
Planning estimate. The rate box is prefilled with a regional average; the figure on your own bill is the one that matters. Power is draw while running, not while switched on.
| Run time | Electricity used | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Per hour of runtime | 0.06 kWh | $0.01 |
| Per day at 8 hours | 0.48 kWh | $0.09 |
| Per week | 3.36 kWh | $0.62 |
| Per 30-day month | 14.40 kWh | $2.66 |
| Per year of that pattern | 175.20 kWh | $32.31 |
Why fan wattage varies so much
Fan wattage varies more than almost any other appliance in the house, because the motor technology changed. Traditional AC induction motors are inefficient at low speeds; a fan on low might use two thirds of what it uses on high. DC motors, which have become common on better fans, use a fraction of that and give you six speeds instead of three.
A DC fan on low can run all night for well under a cent. If you are choosing a fan and expect to run it constantly through summer, the motor type matters more than the blade design people argue about.
| Rated power | Per hour | Per day (8 h) | Per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 W | $0.00 | $0.01 | $0.44 |
| 30 W | $0.01 | $0.04 | $1.33 |
| 50 W | $0.01 | $0.07 | $2.21 |
| 75 W | $0.01 | $0.11 | $3.32 |
| 120 W | $0.02 | $0.18 | $5.31 |
Cost by hours run per day
At 60 W, across the run times people actually use.
| Hours per day | kWh per day | Per day | Per 30 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 h | 0.06 | $0.01 | $0.33 |
| 2 h | 0.12 | $0.02 | $0.66 |
| 4 h | 0.24 | $0.04 | $1.33 |
| 6 h | 0.36 | $0.07 | $1.99 |
| 8 h | 0.48 | $0.09 | $2.66 |
| 12 h | 0.72 | $0.13 | $3.98 |
| 24 h | 1.44 | $0.27 | $7.97 |
The fan is not the saving. The setpoint is.
The real value of a ceiling fan is not its own running cost. It is that moving air makes most people comfortable about three or four degrees warmer than still air does. Raising an air conditioner setpoint from 72 to 76 typically cuts cooling energy by 15 to 25 percent, and the fan enabling that costs $0.01 an hour against an air conditioner that costs $0.17 an hour.
That trade is roughly fifteen to one in the fan favour. It is one of the few household energy tips that is worth more than the effort of reading it.
Ceiling fan cost across electricity rates
Even at Hawaii rates a ceiling fan stays cheap. This is one appliance where the rate barely matters.
| Your rate | Per hour | Per day (8 h) | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10.00¢/kWh | $0.01 | $0.05 | $1.44 | $17.52 |
| 13.00¢/kWh | $0.01 | $0.06 | $1.87 | $22.78 |
| 15.00¢/kWh | $0.01 | $0.07 | $2.16 | $26.28 |
| 18.44¢/kWh | $0.01 | $0.09 | $2.66 | $32.31 |
| 22.00¢/kWh | $0.01 | $0.11 | $3.17 | $38.54 |
| 26.00¢/kWh | $0.02 | $0.12 | $3.74 | $45.55 |
| 30.00¢/kWh | $0.02 | $0.14 | $4.32 | $52.56 |
| 35.00¢/kWh | $0.02 | $0.17 | $5.04 | $61.32 |
Ceiling fan running cost by state
| State | Rate | Per hour | Per day | Per month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 16.77¢ | $0.01 | $0.08 | $2.41 |
| Alaska | 28.23¢ | $0.02 | $0.14 | $4.07 |
| Arizona | 15.23¢ | $0.01 | $0.07 | $2.19 |
| Arkansas | 14.36¢ | $0.01 | $0.07 | $2.07 |
| California | 33.25¢ | $0.02 | $0.16 | $4.79 |
| Colorado | 16.16¢ | $0.01 | $0.08 | $2.33 |
| Connecticut | 27.37¢ | $0.02 | $0.13 | $3.94 |
| Delaware | 19.38¢ | $0.01 | $0.09 | $2.79 |
| District of Columbia | 25.40¢ | $0.02 | $0.12 | $3.66 |
| Florida | 15.17¢ | $0.01 | $0.07 | $2.18 |
| Georgia | 15.84¢ | $0.01 | $0.08 | $2.28 |
| Hawaii | 52.00¢ | $0.03 | $0.25 | $7.49 |
| Idaho | 12.35¢ | $0.01 | $0.06 | $1.78 |
| Illinois | 23.85¢ | $0.01 | $0.11 | $3.43 |
| Indiana | 18.15¢ | $0.01 | $0.09 | $2.61 |
| Iowa | 14.14¢ | $0.01 | $0.07 | $2.04 |
| Kansas | 15.13¢ | $0.01 | $0.07 | $2.18 |
| Kentucky | 14.98¢ | $0.01 | $0.07 | $2.16 |
| Louisiana | 14.15¢ | $0.01 | $0.07 | $2.04 |
| Maine | 28.63¢ | $0.02 | $0.14 | $4.12 |
| Maryland | 21.77¢ | $0.01 | $0.10 | $3.13 |
| Massachusetts | 28.82¢ | $0.02 | $0.14 | $4.15 |
| Michigan | 22.01¢ | $0.01 | $0.11 | $3.17 |
| Minnesota | 16.95¢ | $0.01 | $0.08 | $2.44 |
| Mississippi | 16.16¢ | $0.01 | $0.08 | $2.33 |
| Missouri | 13.68¢ | $0.01 | $0.07 | $1.97 |
| Montana | 14.67¢ | $0.01 | $0.07 | $2.11 |
| Nebraska | 13.59¢ | $0.01 | $0.07 | $1.96 |
| Nevada | 13.60¢ | $0.01 | $0.07 | $1.96 |
| New Hampshire | 27.33¢ | $0.02 | $0.13 | $3.94 |
| New Jersey | 23.27¢ | $0.01 | $0.11 | $3.35 |
| New Mexico | 14.12¢ | $0.01 | $0.07 | $2.03 |
| New York | 29.93¢ | $0.02 | $0.14 | $4.31 |
| North Carolina | 15.09¢ | $0.01 | $0.07 | $2.17 |
| North Dakota | 13.61¢ | $0.01 | $0.07 | $1.96 |
| Ohio | 19.52¢ | $0.01 | $0.09 | $2.81 |
| Oklahoma | 13.38¢ | $0.01 | $0.06 | $1.93 |
| Oregon | 16.27¢ | $0.01 | $0.08 | $2.34 |
| Pennsylvania | 21.55¢ | $0.01 | $0.10 | $3.10 |
| Rhode Island | 29.46¢ | $0.02 | $0.14 | $4.24 |
| South Carolina | 16.18¢ | $0.01 | $0.08 | $2.33 |
| South Dakota | 15.73¢ | $0.01 | $0.08 | $2.27 |
| Tennessee | 14.47¢ | $0.01 | $0.07 | $2.08 |
| Texas | 16.44¢ | $0.01 | $0.08 | $2.37 |
| Utah | 12.96¢ | $0.01 | $0.06 | $1.87 |
| Vermont | 24.89¢ | $0.01 | $0.12 | $3.58 |
| Virginia | 17.61¢ | $0.01 | $0.08 | $2.54 |
| Washington | 14.95¢ | $0.01 | $0.07 | $2.15 |
| West Virginia | 16.80¢ | $0.01 | $0.08 | $2.42 |
| Wisconsin | 19.74¢ | $0.01 | $0.09 | $2.84 |
| Wyoming | 14.80¢ | $0.01 | $0.07 | $2.13 |
Four rules that make fans worth it
- Turn it off when you leave the room. This is not a small point. A fan running in an empty room does nothing except cost money and add a little heat.
- Reverse it in winter. Running clockwise on low pushes warm air down off the ceiling without creating a draft. In a room with high ceilings this genuinely reduces heating runtime.
- Use it with the AC, not instead of it. The saving comes from the higher setpoint, and the setpoint only goes up if you actually change it.
- Choose DC if you are replacing. The difference over a summer of constant use is meaningful; the difference over occasional use is not.
How this compares to everything else you plug in
Everything people run to stay comfortable, per hour.
| Appliance | Typical power | Cost per hour |
|---|---|---|
| Ceiling fan | 60 W | $0.01 |
| Box fan | 75 W | $0.01 |
| Tower fan | 50 W | $0.01 |
| Window air conditioner | 900 W | $0.17 |
| Portable air conditioner | 1,100 W | $0.20 |
| Air purifier | 50 W | $0.01 |
Questions people actually ask
How much does it cost to run a ceiling fan all night?
How many watts does a ceiling fan use?
Is it cheaper to run a ceiling fan or air conditioning?
Does leaving a fan on cool the room?
Should a ceiling fan run clockwise or counterclockwise?
Do ceiling fans use a lot of electricity compared to lights?
Related running costs
Running it on solar
A ceiling fan uses 0.48 kWh a day, which needs about less than one standard 400 W panels. Full array, battery and inverter sizing is on how many solar panels to run a ceiling fan.
Run the numbers on your own bill
Costs on this page use a national average residential rate of 18.44¢ per kWh (August 2026, EIA-derived state residential averages). Your own rate is printed on your electricity bill and is the number that actually matters. Every figure here is recalculated from one central rate setting, so these tables move when the national average moves.