Is a microwave cheaper than an oven?

Much cheaper for reheating — often by a factor of ten — because it heats the food directly instead of the air around it.

At the default usage on each page, electric oven costs about 4.0× as much to run as microwave — $80.33 against $20.08 a year.

Why microwave wins, and when it does not

• A microwave puts energy into the water in the food. An oven heats a large metal box, the air inside it, and the dish, before any of it reaches the food.
• Run times are measured in minutes rather than tens of minutes, and that duration difference dwarfs the wattage difference.
• The oven still wins on anything that needs browning or a crust, which a microwave physically cannot produce.

What the difference is worth where you live

The 4.0× above holds at any price: both a microwave and an electric oven scale with whatever you pay per kilowatt-hour. The money does not. Choosing microwave over electric oven saves about $60.25 a year at the U.S. average, and $173 a year in Hawaii at 52.72¢ — against $43.07 in Nevada, the cheapest jurisdiction in the country. Swapping electric oven for microwave 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.