How much does it cost to run a portable air conditioner?
EIA data · June 2026About $34.36 a month at the U.S. average price of 18.34¢ per kilowatt-hour — but that figure moves a long way depending on where you live. Set your state below.
187.4 kWh a month at the U.S. average, 18.34¢/kWh for June 2026. Excludes fixed charges, taxes and time-of-use rates, which vary by utility and are on your bill.
Typical 700–1,600 W. Use the figure on your own label if you have it.
70% duty cycle applied — it draws power for part of that time.
A portable air conditioner is #11 of 88 on this site by annual cost, so it is probably not the only thing worth checking. See what a portable air conditioner costs beside everything else you run.
Published figures for this appliance disagree by a wide margin. Why other sites price a portable air conditioner so differently.
How many watts a portable air conditioner uses
Portable units are 120-volt appliances, which caps them near 1,500 W. A common 10,000–12,000 BTU model draws roughly 1,000–1,300 W while the compressor runs.
- Low
- 700 W
- Typical
- 1,100 W
- High
- 1,600 W
What it costs across the country
Same appliance, same usage, different electricity price. Annual cost at 1,100 W and the default usage above.
| State | ¢/kWh | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Hawaii | 52.72 | $1,185 |
| California | 34.74 | $781 |
| Massachusetts | 29.61 | $666 |
| New York | 29.49 | $663 |
| Ohio | 19.19 | $431 |
| Texas | 15.94 | $358 |
| Florida | 15.10 | $340 |
| Utah | 13.37 | $301 |
| Nebraska | 13.25 | $298 |
| Nevada | 13.11 | $295 |
Worth knowing
- Single-hose portables are the least efficient way to cool a room. They exhaust indoor air out of the window, which pulls unconditioned air in through every gap in the building to replace it.
- A dual-hose model draws its exhaust air from outside and avoids that penalty, which is worth more than any difference in the BTU rating.
- For the same cooling, a window unit almost always costs less to run than a portable, because it is not fighting its own exhaust.
Other appliances
- Space heater
- Central air conditioner
- Window air conditioner
- Dehumidifier
- Ceiling fan
- Electric blanket
- Heat pump
- Electric baseboard heater
Prices are statewide residential averages for June 2026 from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. They exclude fixed monthly charges, taxes and time-of-use rates. See how these figures are calculated.