How Many Watts Does It Take to Run a House?

For one household to run correctly, multiple electrical devices must be accessible to everyone. No home can go a day without a refrigerator, a stove, an oven, and a washing machine. All these appliances use a lot of watts to run your home, although you may wonder how significant that number is. According to the US Energy Information, an average US home uses 1,213 watts daily. To run a home for an entire year, a family may use around 10,632 kWh.

We’ll take a deeper look at how many watts it takes to run a house below.

Factors That Affect How Many Watts are Needed Run Your House

Household size

The main factor affecting how many watts it takes to run one home is the size of the house and household. The larger your home is, the more appliances it will need to run in many different rooms. If you live in a large household, that number will only grow. With more people living in one home, higher electricity consumption will occur.

Number of Appliances

The number of appliances is another significant factor to take into consideration. If your family uses many devices daily besides the bare necessities, your home will naturally consume more watts. The number and type of appliances will also vary depending on your location. Depending on whether you live in a warmer or cooler area, you must have an accessible cooling or heating device. Heating tends to use more power than cooling, though.

Frequency of Use

The more you use everyday devices and appliances, the more your electricity consumption will increase. Appliances such as the oven, coffee maker, dishwasher, or dryer will use a lot of power. If you want to lower the number of your electricity consumption, it is best to start with smaller unnecessary devices such as the toaster or coffee maker.

How Many Watts Does an Average Home Use?

Depending on the amount of power a device or appliance needs to generate, it uses a certain number of watts. Many watts are required to run the entire house in a busy home, especially a large, multi-family home. Everyone has to use at least one appliance throughout their day—whether it is the coffee maker, the computer, or a phone charger, and you are using different appliances constantly.

Throughout homes in the US, residents are using electricity with every step. In 2021, the average electricity consumption of one US citizen was 886-kilowatt hours (kWh) a month, which adds up to 10,632 kWh per year. With this statistic in mind, we can calculate that an average American home uses around 1,213 watts per day.

The Power Consumption of Typical Household Appliances

Different appliances require different energy to run. While laptops and computers may use only around 50 watts, larger appliances like the refrigerator will need up to 500 watts. This amount will also depend on how long you will use the device. You will likely spend more electricity if you cook a meal than when drying your hair. Nevertheless, each home has an average electricity consumption, primarily depending on the appliances used.

Below is a small table comparing different appliances and their consumption, hopefully giving you a better insight into the number of watts a household uses.

Final Thoughts

After reading about electricity consumption and the watts it takes to run a home, you will understand better how every appliance needs an adequate amount of energy. Usually, bigger kitchen or laundry room appliances will need more watts to run, while smaller devices will use less.

Hopefully, this article was helpful and educational, showing you how many watts an average US household uses.

Featured Image Credit: Piqsels