How Much Electricity Does a TV Use? Watts and Cost by Screen Size
A new 55-inch TV uses about 99 watts while it’s on. Watched 2.6 hours a day, the US average, that is about 97 kWh a year, roughly $18 at the US average electricity price, or under 2 cents an hour. A 32-inch TV uses about 32 W ($6 a year) and an 85-inch about 181 W ($32). These are the median figures for the 184 TVs on ENERGY STAR’s certified list. The cost most people miss is the time the TV is “off”: with quick start on, a TV can use more electricity sitting idle than while you watch it.
- One device at a time
- No app, no setup
- Tier 2: senses your remote
- 6 switched, 2 always on
Most answers to this question say a TV uses “50 to 200 watts” and leave it there. We took the federal test results for every TV on ENERGY STAR’s certified list and worked out what each screen size really draws, then priced it in your state. This page shows the watts by size, what a TV costs an hour, a month and a year, why the yellow label on the box shows a bigger number, and the standby setting that can double your TV’s cost.
How many watts does a TV use?
Screen size matters most. Each step up in size adds 11 to 33 watts, so an 85-inch TV draws nearly six times as much as a 32-inch one.
| Screen size | Watts when on | kWh a year | Cost a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 32 inch | 32 W | 33 | $6.01 |
| 43 inch | 63 W | 63 | $11.46 |
| 50 inch | 74 W | 73 | $13.31 |
| 55 inch OLED 103 W, LED 85 W | 99 W | 97 | $17.59 |
| 65 inch OLED 127 W, LED 114 W | 119 W | 116 | $21.06 |
| 75 inch | 148 W | 144 | $26.19 |
| 85 inch | 181 W | 175 | $31.83 |
OLED or LED? At the same size, the OLED TVs on the list draw a little more: at 55 inches the median OLED uses 103 W against 85 W for LED-backlit sets (including QLED), and at 65 inches 127 W against 114 W. That is $2 to $3 a year at 2.6 hours a day, too small to decide which TV to buy.
An older TV will use more. ENERGY STAR certifies only efficient models, so these figures are the low end of what is in people’s homes. Honda’s guide to sizing a generator budgets 190 W for a 46-inch flat-screen TV, a cautious planning figure. The only way to know your own TV’s figure is to measure it.
What a TV costs to run
Watts × hours ÷ 1,000 gives kWh, and kWh × your price gives the cost. For a 55-inch TV at the US average price of 18.19 cents per kWh (EIA, January to July 2026):
- An hour: 99 W is 0.099 kWh, about 1.8 cents.
- 24 hours, left on all day: 2.37 kWh, about 43 cents.
- A year at 2.6 hours a day, plus 0.4 W of standby the rest of the time: 97 kWh, about $18, or $1.47 a month.
Where you live changes the cost more than the TV does. The same 55-inch TV costs about $12 a year in North Dakota, at 12.36 cents per kWh, and about $45 in Hawaii, at 46.28 cents. Pick your state in the calculator above, or use the electricity cost calculator for anything else you plug in.
We start from 2.6 hours a day because that is how long Americans spend watching TV, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ American Time Use Survey for 2025. That is time per person. A TV that plays in the background, or that several people watch at different times, is on for longer, so set the hours to match your home.
Why the EnergyGuide label shows more
The yellow EnergyGuide label on a TV’s box gives an estimated yearly cost, and it is usually higher than the figure above. That is not because the TV uses more. Under the Federal Trade Commission’s labeling rule, the label assumes 5 hours on and 19 hours in standby every day, at 16 cents per kWh. On that basis the same 55-inch TV uses about 183 kWh a year, about $29 at the label’s price. Use the label to compare one TV with another, and the calculator above for what it will cost you.
Standby and quick start: the hidden cost
A new TV switched off with the remote should draw very little. The median for the certified TVs is 0.4 W with the network connected, about 3 kWh, or 57 cents, a year.
Homes tell a different story. When the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) measured the always-on power in Northern California homes, TVs drew 13 W on average while sitting idle, and NRDC found the “quick start” setting can use as much as 37 W around the clock in some models. Quick start (also called instant on, or a fast start mode) keeps the TV partly awake so it comes on a few seconds sooner.
At 13 W for the 21.4 hours a day the TV is off, a 55-inch TV’s idle time uses about 102 kWh a year, about $18, more than the 94 kWh it uses while you watch. At 37 W around the clock, the worst case NRDC reports, idling would cost about $59 a year.
To stop it:
- Turn quick start off in the TV’s settings menu, usually under power, general or system settings. NRDC’s advice is to switch it off if it uses more than a couple of watts.
- Cut the power to the whole setup. A soundbar, game console and streaming box add their own standby. A TV-sensing power strip switches them all off when no one has used the remote for a while: in PG&E’s before-and-after metering in homes, the type saved 110 to 125 kWh a year on a TV setup, about $20 to $23. Our smart power strip guide compares the options.
- Leave the router and a cable box with a recorder plugged in. They need power to update and record.
How to measure your own TV
A plug-in electricity meter, such as the Kill A Watt, goes between the wall socket and the TV and shows the watts it draws. Check three things:
- Watts while watching, in the picture setting you actually use. Compare it with the table above.
- Watts when off with the remote. Anything above a couple of watts means quick start or a similar setting is on.
- kWh over a week of normal use. Multiply by 52 and your price for a yearly cost.
Our home energy monitor guide explains how to find the rest of your home’s always-on load, and our refrigerator guide shows what a fridge uses by type and age.
Running a TV in a power cut
A 55-inch TV at about 99 W runs for about 8.6 hours on a 1,000 Wh portable power station, allowing for the 15% lost in the station’s inverter (Jackery’s runtime formula). See how long a station runs your other devices in our portable power station guide, or size a generator with the generator size calculator.
Our picks
- One device at a time
- No app, no setup
- Tier 2: senses your remote
- 6 switched, 2 always on
P3 Kill A Watt EZ tells you what your own TV draws, on and off, so you are not relying on a median. No app or Wi-Fi. The accuracy figure is the listing’s claim.
Embertec Emberstrip 8AV+ is the kind of TV-sensing strip PG&E measured in homes. It cuts the switched outlets when there has been no remote use for a while, so a console, soundbar and streaming box go off with the TV. Its specifications are from the listing. We have not tested either product ourselves.
How we worked it out
The watts are the median on-mode power, measured under the Department of Energy’s federal test procedure, of the 184 TVs on ENERGY STAR’s certified list on 13 October 2026, grouped by the size class makers sell them under (a TV with a 64.5-inch viewable screen is a 65-inch TV). Each size has 9 to 35 models; the OLED and LED figures at 55 and 65 inches come from 14 to 19 models each. Standby is the median certified figure with the network connected. Idle and quick start figures are from NRDC’s 2015 study of home idle load. Viewing time is from the BLS American Time Use Survey, 2025 results. Prices are EIA’s average residential electricity prices for each state, January to July 2026. All of these are stored, with their sources, in our MasterBrain data layer, and the table and calculator update when they do.
Sources
- ENERGY STAR, Certified Televisions dataset (retrieved 13 October 2026)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, American Time Use Survey Summary, 2025 results (released 25 June 2026)
- NRDC, Home Idle Load: Devices Wasting Huge Amounts of Electricity When Not in Active Use (2015, PDF)
- 16 CFR 305.25, Television labeling (Federal Trade Commission, as amended 2 February 2024)
- U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.B: average residential electricity price by state, January to July 2026 (year to date)
- Honda Power Equipment, generator wattage estimation guide
How we pick products for every buying guide: our buying guide standards.
Frequently asked questions
A new TV uses about 32 W at 32 inches, 63 W at 43 inches, 74 W at 50 inches, 99 W at 55 inches, 119 W at 65 inches, 148 W at 75 inches and 181 W at 85 inches. These are the median federal test figures for ENERGY STAR certified TVs; older TVs use more.
About $18 for a new 55-inch TV watched 2.6 hours a day at the US average price of 18.19 cents per kWh: about $12 in North Dakota and $45 in Hawaii. With quick start left on, the idle hours can add about $18 more.
A 55-inch TV left on for 24 hours uses about 2.37 kWh, about 43 cents at the US average price. Every day for a year that would be about $157.
Yes, a little. New certified TVs draw a median of 0.4 W in standby, about 57 cents a year. But NRDC measured TVs in homes idling at 13 W on average, and quick start can use up to 37 W in some models. Turn quick start off, or unplug the TV with a smart power strip.
A little, among ENERGY STAR certified TVs: at 55 inches the median OLED uses 103 W and the median LED-backlit TV 85 W; at 65 inches, 127 W against 114 W. At 2.6 hours a day that is $2 to $3 a year.