Is a ceiling fan cheaper than air conditioning?

Far cheaper — but it does a different job. A fan cools people, not rooms.

At the default usage on each page, window air conditioner costs about 10.5× as much to run as ceiling fan — $337 against $32.13 a year.

Why ceiling fan wins, and when it does not

• A ceiling fan draws around 60 W against a window unit's 900 W, so even run around the clock it costs a small fraction of what the air conditioner does.
• A fan does not lower the temperature. It moves air past skin, which makes a person feel two to four degrees cooler.
• The practical answer is both: a fan lets you raise the thermostat several degrees, and that saving is far larger than the fan costs.

What the difference is worth where you live

The 10.5× above holds at any price: both a ceiling fan and a window air conditioner scale with whatever you pay per kilowatt-hour. The money does not. Choosing ceiling fan over window air conditioner saves about $305 a year at the U.S. average, and $877 a year in Hawaii at 52.72¢ — against $218 in Nevada, the cheapest jurisdiction in the country. Swapping window air conditioner for ceiling fan is worth 4.0× as much in Hawaii as in Nevada, so what you pay per kilowatt-hour decides this more than the wattage on either label.

Both figures use each appliance’s typical wattage and default usage at the U.S. average of 18.34¢ per kilowatt-hour, and exclude fixed charges, taxes and time-of-use rates. Change the wattage, usage or state on either appliance’s own page to compare them on your terms, or read how to check a running-cost figure before trusting any of them.