Laundry Cost Per Load Calculator

What goes into the cost of a load

Most people think of laundry as a detergent expense. Detergent is the smallest part of it. A load of laundry is an energy calculation with a water bill and a soap bill attached, and the energy side splits into two separate pieces.

• Washer motor: about 0.30 kWh for a standard top-loader and 0.15 kWh for a high-efficiency front-loader. This is the small one.
• Water heating: the hidden cost. Raising 23 gallons of 60°F water to a hot wash takes about 3.37 kWh. That is more than ten times the motor.
• Water and sewer: 23 gallons for a top-loader, 13 for a high-efficiency machine, billed per 1,000 gallons on your water bill and again on your sewer bill in most cities.
• Detergent: about $0.20 a load for liquid from a large bottle, $0.25 to $0.35 for a pod.
• Drying: about 3 kWh for an electric dryer, or about 0.22 therms for a gas dryer.

The national average residential electricity price was 18.31 cents per kWh as of July 2026, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Water and sewer rates vary far more, from about $4 to $15 per 1,000 gallons depending on the city, so use your own bill. ENERGY STAR's clothes washer pages have the efficiency numbers for the machine side, and the EPA's WaterSense product guidance covers the water side.

Worked example: a warm wash with an electric dryer

This is the default setup in the calculator: a standard top-loader, a warm wash, and an electric dryer, at 18 cents per kWh and $8 per 1,000 gallons.

• Washer motor, 0.30 kWh: $0.05
• Water heating, 1.69 kWh for a 30°F rise on 23 gallons: $0.30
• Water and sewer, 23 gallons at $8 per 1,000: $0.18
• Detergent: $0.20
• Electric dryer, 3 kWh: $0.54
• Total: $1.28 per load

At 5 loads a week that is $6.41 a week and $333 a year. The two biggest lines are the dryer at $0.54 and the water heating at $0.30, together 66 percent of the total. Detergent, the cost people think about most, is 16 percent.

The formula for the water heating line is worth knowing: gallons x 8.34 pounds per gallon x temperature rise, divided by 3,412 BTU per kWh. A warm wash raises the water about 30°F, a hot wash about 60°F. Set the wash to hot and that line doubles to $0.61, taking the load to $1.59.

Worked example: cold wash and air dry

Now make the two changes that matter: wash cold and hang the laundry up.

• Washer motor, 0.30 kWh: $0.05
• Water heating: $0.00, cold water is not heated at all
• Water and sewer, 23 gallons: $0.18
• Detergent: $0.20
• Drying: $0.00
• Total: $0.44 per load

That is $0.84 less than the warm wash with a dryer, a saving of 66 percent. Over a year at 5 loads a week it is $114 instead of $333, so about $219 back in your pocket.

Add a high-efficiency front-loader and it drops further, to about $0.33 a load, because the machine uses 13 gallons instead of 23 and a smaller motor. Cold water handles most everyday laundry fine. The exceptions are greasy work clothes, heavily soiled bedding and anything with a stomach bug in the house, where a warm or hot wash earns its cost.

Cost per load at a glance

The same calculator settings, five common ways to do a load. Rates are 18 cents per kWh, $8 per 1,000 gallons and $1.20 per therm:

The spread from cheapest to most expensive is nearly 5 to 1, and the difference between them is one decision about water temperature and one about the dryer. Everything else in laundry, fabric softener, dryer sheets, scent boosters, moves the number by a few cents.

The three changes that cut the bill the most

If you only do three things, do these, in this order.

• Wash cold. Saves $0.30 on a warm load and $0.61 on a hot one. Modern detergents are formulated for cold water, and the cleaning difference on normal soil is small.
• Run full loads. The cost per load barely changes with load size, so washing half-full doubles your cost per pound of laundry. Wait for a full drum.
• Air dry. Saves $0.54 a load with an electric dryer, or $0.31 with gas. A folding rack indoors and a line outside cover most households for most of the year.

Those three take the default load from $1.28 to $0.44, and to $0.33 if you also have a high-efficiency machine. Nothing else comes close. Switching detergent brands might save $0.03 a load, and using less detergent per load often saves nothing at all, because under-dosing just means rewashing.

One more habit worth building: clean the dryer lint filter before every load. A clogged filter adds 10 to 30 percent to drying time, which is $0.05 to $0.16 a load, and it is a fire risk on top of that.

The assumptions behind the numbers

Every calculator makes choices, so here are the ones this tool makes, in plain terms.

• Washer energy: 0.30 kWh per load for a top-loader and 0.15 kWh for a high-efficiency front-loader, covering the motor, the pump and the controls but not the water heating.
• Water heating: gallons x 8.34 x temperature rise, divided by 3,412. A warm wash is a 30°F rise, a hot wash a 60°F rise, from a 60°F supply. That assumes an electric water heater at close to 100 percent efficiency.
• Water use: 23 gallons for a top-loader and 13 for a high-efficiency machine, which is the range the EPA and ENERGY STAR publish.
• Dryer: 3 kWh for an electric dryer and 0.22 therms for a gas dryer, which are mid-range figures for a full load.
• Not included: the purchase price of the machines, repairs, dryer sheets, fabric softener, and the cost of your own time.

If your water heater is a heat pump model, cut the water heating line by about 60 percent. If your washer is more than 15 years old, add 30 to 50 percent to both the water and the electricity figures. Either way, put your own numbers into the calculator at the top of the page rather than trusting a national average.