Laundry Cost Calculator

Calculate weekly, monthly, and annual laundry costs at home vs laundromat.

By Konstantin Iakovlev · Updated September 2026 · Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration — Form EIA-861, 2025 average residential electricity price and bill · Methodology

Machine Type
$

Monthly Cost

$13.00

Annual Cost

$156.00

Cost Breakdown

Weekly$3.00
Monthly$13.00
Annual$156.00
Laundromat Annual$1,040.00

Use the Laundry Cost Calculator above to calculate your results. Enter your values and see instant results — all calculations run in your browser.

Disclaimer: This calculator is for informational purposes only. Results are estimates based on the information you provide and the assumptions described on this page.

How It Works

The real price of a load of laundry runs well past the detergent bottle, pulling in machine use, water, and energy too. Seeing the full picture matters for budgeting and for spotting savings, particularly if you wash often or lean on commercial machines.

The calculator keeps the math simple: you enter how many loads you run a week and what one load costs you. Weekly cost is loads × cost per load, annual is weekly × 52 and monthly is annual ÷ 12. Leave the cost per load blank and it uses $0.75 for home machines, meant to cover water, electricity and detergent, or $5.00 at a laundromat: a $3.00 top-load wash, the most common price in American Coin-Op's 2026 pricing survey, plus about 40 minutes of drying at the survey's most common 25 cents per 4-5 minutes. It also shows what the same loads would cost in a year the other way. To work out your own cost per load, add the electricity the washer and dryer use (kWh × your rate), the water, and the detergent and extras such as fabric softener or dryer sheets.

Drying deserves its own line, since an electric dryer can rival the wash itself in cost. Many people tally only detergent and skip the utilities entirely, yet those water and energy charges are usually where most of the spending hides.

Example: Four Loads a Week at Home vs the Laundromat

  1. 1 Input: Loads per Week 4, Machine Type Home, Cost per Load $0.75.
  2. 2 Weekly: 4 × $0.75 = $3.00. Annual: $3.00 × 52 = $156.00. Monthly: $156.00 ÷ 12 = $13.00.
  3. 3 Comparison line: the same 4 loads at the laundromat's $5.00 come to 4 × $5.00 × 52 = $1,040.00 a year, $884 more than at home before the cost of buying machines.
  4. 4 Checking the $0.75: at EIA's 2025 average residential price of 17.23 cents per kWh, a dryer cycle that uses 3 kWh costs about $0.52 on its own, so if you machine-dry every load, enter a higher cost per load.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration — Form EIA-861, 2025 average residential electricity price and bill · Last updated: September 2026

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to do laundry at home per load?
It depends on your energy and water rates, your machines and your detergent. This calculator starts at $0.75 a load for home machines; at that figure, 4 loads a week come to $156 a year and 8 loads to $312. High-efficiency machines and cold-water washes cost less.
Is it cheaper to do laundry at home or at a laundromat?
Per load, usually home. The calculator compares $0.75 a load at home with $5.00 at a laundromat (a $3.00 top-load wash, the most common price in American Coin-Op's 2026 survey, plus about 40 minutes of drying); at 4 loads a week that is $156 versus $1,040 a year, an $884 difference. The comparison leaves out the price of buying a washer and dryer, so set that against the yearly savings over the years you expect the machines to last.
How much electricity does a dryer use per load?
Multiply the kilowatt-hours a cycle uses by your electricity rate. At the Energy Information Administration's 2025 U.S. average residential price of 17.23 cents per kWh, a cycle that uses 3 kWh costs about $0.52. Your own bill shows your actual rate, which can be far from the national average. Air drying uses no energy but takes several hours.

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