How much does it cost to run a hair dryer?
About $0.83 a month on the typical usage below, at the U.S. average $0.1816/kWh. Set your own rate and usage and the figure updates instantly.
A hair dryer draws up to ~1,875W on high, but for just a few minutes a day.
Running a hair dryer at 0.15 kWh a cycle, 7 cycles a week costs about
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A hair dryer looks scary on the nameplate — 1,500 watts or more, right up there with a space heater — but the bill never matches the fear, because you're only running it for a few minutes, not a few hours. That's the entire story of hair dryer cost: high wattage, tiny duration. A 1,500-watt dryer run for 15 minutes a day only draws about 0.375 kWh, so even at a high electricity rate you're looking at a few cents a day.
Where the cost actually moves is the heat setting and how long you dry, not the dryer itself. Cranking a dual-voltage travel dryer or a salon-grade unit up near 1,875 watts on high, or air-drying longer because you skipped a towel-dry first, pushes the runtime and wattage up together — and unlike a fridge or a space heater, that's a habit you control every single time you use it.
What drives the cost of running a hair dryer
- Wattage on the heat/speed setting used — typical dryers run 1,000-1,875W, and high heat draws far more than the cool-shot or low setting
- Minutes per session — the calculator assumes about 0.2 hours (roughly 12 minutes) a day, so doubling your drying time roughly doubles the cost
- Your electricity rate (cents per kWh) — since a hair dryer's total energy use is so small, rate differences matter less here than for big always-on appliances
How to cut it
- Towel-dry or air-dry first so the dryer only has to finish the job, not start from soaking wet
- Use the lower heat setting when you can — it's the single biggest lever since wattage and cost move together
- Keep the dryer's air intake filter free of hair and lint; a clogged filter makes it work harder and run longer to finish
- Skip drying hair you're about to put up or cover — a few fewer minutes a day adds up over a year
Data basis
- Electricity price
- U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.B, June 2026 year to date, released 2026-08-26. Retrieved 2026-09-11. Average residential revenue per kWh. A benchmark average, not a utility tariff — it excludes the fixed charges, tiers, time-of-use windows, taxes and fuel adjustments on a real bill.
- Appliance energy
- A representative running power for a hair dryer, compiled from published manufacturer specifications and public appliance-energy guidance, and presented as a typical figure with the usual range shown above. It is not a measurement of your unit, and we do not claim a single primary source for it — the nameplate on your appliance, or an hour with a plug-in energy meter, beats any typical figure we can publish.
- Usage model
- Per cycle — 0.15 kWh a cycle, 7 cycles a week
- International prices
- rounded typical household tariffs for each market, in that market's own currency unless the row says US$ equivalent. These are planning benchmarks with no single primary source; enter the per-kWh price from your own bill for an accurate figure.
- Last reviewed
- 20 August 2026. Next scheduled review 20 February 2027.
- Corrections
- Think a figure is wrong? Tell us at corrections@watt-dollar.com and see our corrections policy.
Common questions
How much does it cost to run a hair dryer per month?
On the assumption shown above — 0.15 kWh a cycle, 7 cycles a week — a hair dryer costs about $0.83 a month, or $9.94 a year, at $0.1816/kWh. That price is the U.S. average; set your own rate and usage above and the figure updates.
How is that worked out?
Energy per cycle x cycles per week, plus any standby draw between cycles. At 0.15 kWh a cycle, 7 cycles a week that is 0.15 kWh a day, which at $0.1816/kWh costs $0.03 a day.
How can I cut the cost of running a hair dryer?
Towel-dry or air-dry first so the dryer only has to finish the job, not start from soaking wet As a worked example: running 5.6 cycles a week instead of 7 takes it from $9.94 to $7.95 a year, about $1.99 less.
Is a hair dryer actually expensive to run compared to other appliances?
No — despite the high wattage, a hair dryer is one of the cheapest appliances on this site to run because it's only used for minutes a day, not hours. A space heater or clothes dryer running for hours will cost far more per month even at a lower wattage.
Does a more powerful (higher-wattage) hair dryer cost more to run?
Only if you actually use the extra power — many high-wattage professional dryers dry hair faster, so the higher draw is offset by a shorter runtime. A cheap dryer run twice as long at lower wattage can end up costing about the same.