Cooling · Illinois
How Much Does It Cost to Run a Ceiling Fan in Illinois?
The short answer
Running a 50W ceiling fan in Illinois costs about $0.01 an hour. At 8 hours a day, that’s roughly $2.34 a month and $28.06 a year.
That’s based on Illinois’s average residential rate of 19.2¢/kWh (EIA, July 2026), 5% above the US average.
Source: U.S. EIA, July 2026 data · Updated
Ceiling Fan cost by daily use in Illinois
| Daily use | kWh/month | Per day | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 hour/day | 1.5 | $0.01 | $0.29 | $3.51 |
| 2 hours/day | 3.0 | $0.02 | $0.58 | $7.02 |
| 4 hours/day | 6.1 | $0.04 | $1.17 | $14.03 |
| 8 hours/day | 12.2 | $0.08 | $2.34 | $28.06 |
| 12 hours/day | 18.3 | $0.12 | $3.51 | $42.09 |
| 24 hours/day | 36.5 | $0.23 | $7.02 | $84.18 |
Illinois vs other states
At typical use, a ceiling fan costs $28.06 a year in Illinois — $42.02 less than in Hawaii and $9.49 more than in Louisiana.
Illinois has the 17th-most-expensive residential electricity of the 50 states and DC. Illinois electricity rates · all states ranked
Electricity price trend in Illinois
19.2¢/kWh in July 2026 — ▲ +11.6% from a year earlier.
How to lower the cost of running a ceiling fan
Ceiling fans don't lower the room temperature; they make you feel 3–4°F cooler through wind-chill on your skin. That is why they save money only when you also raise the thermostat. A standard AC-motor fan uses 50–90W on high, while efficient DC-motor fans use 15–35W. Running a fan in an empty room just wastes electricity.
- Turn fans off when you leave the room — they cool people, not spaces.
- Raise the AC thermostat by 3–4°F when the fan is running.
- In winter, reverse the direction (clockwise) on low to push warm air down from the ceiling.
- Summers in Illinois are relatively mild, so cooling costs are concentrated in a few hot weeks each year.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to run a ceiling fan for 24 hours in Illinois?
Running a 50W ceiling fan for 24 hours uses about 1.20 kWh, which costs about $0.23 at Illinois’s average rate of 19.2¢/kWh.
How many kWh does a ceiling fan use per month?
At 8 hours a day, a typical ceiling fan uses about 12.2 kWh a month. In Illinois that costs $2.34.
Is it expensive to run a ceiling fan in Illinois?
Illinois has the 17th-most-expensive residential electricity of the 50 states and DC at 19.2¢/kWh — pricier than most. Running a ceiling fan here costs about $28.06 a year at typical use, compared with $26.73 at the national average rate.
What is the electricity rate in Illinois right now?
The average residential electricity rate in Illinois was 19.2¢ per kWh in July 2026, according to the latest EIA data — up 11.6% from a year earlier.
Is it cheaper to run a ceiling fan or AC?
A ceiling fan uses roughly 1–3% of the power of central AC. Using fans to raise your thermostat a few degrees is one of the easiest ways to cut summer bills.
Ceiling Fan costs in nearby states
Other appliances in Illinois
Cheapest and priciest states
Comparisons
Sources & method
- Electricity rates: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly — average residential retail price, July 2026 (latest available). Retrieved .
- CO₂: EIA State Electricity Profiles, 2024 emissions rate of in-state power generation.
- Default usage for ceiling fan: 8 hours a day. Typical power 50W.
- Formulas, duty cycles and limitations: methodology. Data download: open data (CC BY 4.0).