How much electricity does a TV use?
A 65-inch TV draws a median 122 watts while it is on and uses 234 kWh a year in the Department of Energy’s test, which counts five hours of viewing a day: about $43 a year at the US average of 18.31¢ per kWh. A 55-inch draws 78 watts, an 85-inch 232 watts. The table gives every common size, counted over all 9,257 TVs certified to DOE.
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Where the numbers come from
Every television sold in the United States has to be certified to the Department of Energy, with its power measured on and on standby and its energy use for a year. DOE publishes those records, and the figures here are the medians of every model in them, by screen size. The yellow EnergyGuide label on a TV’s box is built on the same test.
The test counts five hours a day switched on and the other nineteen on standby. A TV that is on for ten hours uses about twice the figure in the table; one watched for two hours, well under half. The cost column prices the yearly figure at 18.31¢ per kWh, the average US residential price in July 2026 according to the Energy Information Administration.
What a TV costs to run by the hour
Watts divided by a thousand, times your price per kWh. At 18.31¢, a 65-inch TV at the median 122 watts costs about 2.2¢ an hour, a 55-inch about 1.4¢, an 85-inch about 4.2¢. Your bill gives your own price per kWh: in July 2026 it averaged 33.61¢ in California and 12.72¢ in Louisiana.
The test runs the TV as it came out of the box, in its default picture mode. A brighter picture mode or long stretches of HDR draws more than the figure on the label; dimming the backlight draws less.
Switched off
On standby, the median certified TV draws 0.5 watts. Over the nineteen hours a day the test counts, that is about 3.5 kWh a year, roughly 63¢. Unplugging a TV saves little; leaving it on when nobody is watching costs the full on-mode figure.
What a TV uses, by screen size
Medians over every model certified to the Department of Energy at each size, read 2026-10-07. The yearly cost is at 18.31¢ per kWh, the US residential average for July 2026 (EIA). A product page here gives the model’s own figure where we can find it in DOE’s records.
| Screen | Models certified | Watts while on | kWh a year | A year to run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24-inch | 139 | 25 | 48 | $8.79 |
| 32-inch | 271 | 33 | 72 | $13.18 |
| 40-inch | 235 | 45 | 87 | $15.93 |
| 43-inch | 927 | 75 | 164 | $30.03 |
| 50-inch | 1,505 | 90 | 167 | $30.58 |
| 55-inch | 1,711 | 78 | 164 | $30.03 |
| 65-inch | 949 | 122 | 234 | $42.85 |
| 75-inch | 1,144 | 152 | 280 | $51.27 |
| 85-inch | 1,944 | 232 | 426 | $78.00 |
| 98-inch | 56 | 241 | 443 | $81.11 |
| 100-inch | 113 | 275 | 616 | $112.79 |
Questions people ask
- How many watts does a TV use?
- It depends mostly on the size. Across every TV certified to the Department of Energy, the median 55-inch draws 78 watts while on, the median 65-inch 122 and the median 85-inch 232. On standby the median is 0.5 watts.
- How much does it cost to run a TV per hour?
- About 2.2¢ an hour for a median 65-inch TV at 18.31¢ per kWh, the US average in July 2026. A 55-inch costs about 1.4¢ an hour and an 85-inch about 4.2¢.
- How much electricity does a TV use per month?
- At five hours a day, the Department of Energy’s figure, a median 65-inch TV uses about 20 kWh a month, about $3.57 at 18.31¢ per kWh. A 55-inch uses about 14 kWh.
- Does a TV use electricity when it is turned off?
- A little. The median certified TV draws 0.5 watts on standby, about 63¢ a year over the nineteen hours a day the test counts.