How many watts does a toaster use?
A domestic toaster draws **1000 to 1500 watts** while the elements are on. Two-slice models sit at the lower end, four-slice at the upper. That is roughly three times what a refrigerator averages. The toaster costs about **$5 a year** and the refrigerator about **$80**.
Work it out with your own tariff
Minutes a day
Watts, from the label on yours
Your rate, cents per kWh
| Period | Cost | Time counted |
|---|---|---|
| One minute | $0.0023 | 1 minute |
| Your daily use | $0.0692 | 30 minutes a day |
| A month | $2.07 | × 30 days |
| A year | $25 | × 365 days |
750 W × 30 min ÷ 60 ÷ 1000 = 0.3750 kWh × 18.44¢ = $0.0692 a day.
Minutes are counted per day in total, not per use. If you use it three times a day for two minutes, that is six. The distinction matters because multiplying one use by 365 assumes you use it once a day, and most pages that quote a yearly figure never say which they did. 1000-1500 W covers what is printed on domestic toasters; two-slice models sit at the lower end and four-slice at the upper. A toaster is a bare resistive element, so the rating on the appliance is what it draws while the elements are on. Rate defaults to 18.44¢ (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2026-05).
The clearest example of why watts alone are useless
| Appliance | Draw while running | Cost a year |
|---|---|---|
| Toaster | 1200 W | about $5 |
| Refrigerator | 50 W average | about $80 |
The toaster draws twenty-four times more and costs fifteen times less. Everything in that gap is duration: four minutes a day against every hour of the year.
If you take one thing from this site, this is the pair to remember. A wattage without a duration is not an answer, and the appliances people worry about are usually not the ones costing them money.
What four minutes a day actually comes to
At 1200 W, four minutes a day for a year is about $5.40. A single round of toast costs under a cent.
There is no meaningful saving available here. Unplugging a toaster saves nothing at all, because a toaster with a mechanical timer draws nothing when not toasting — there is no standby to eliminate.
Where a toaster does matter
Not on the bill, but on the circuit. At 1200 to 1500 watts it is one of the largest single draws in a kitchen, and running it alongside a kettle or a microwave on the same circuit is how breakers trip. That is a question about amps rather than about cost, and the arithmetic is the rating divided by 120.
What this does not account for
No source, and none is needed. A toaster is a bare resistive element and the rating on the appliance is what it draws. Nobody certifies toasters for energy use, so any page quoting a measured figure has measured nothing.
Toasters with digital displays do have a standby draw. Models with a clock or electronic controls draw a small amount continuously. A plain mechanical toaster draws nothing between uses. We do not publish a figure for the electronic ones because it is not printed and not certified.
The elements are not on for the whole cycle on some models. Higher-end toasters modulate the elements, so a four-minute cycle may not be four minutes at full power. The figure here is therefore a ceiling.
Toaster ovens are a different appliance. They draw similar power but run for far longer, which as this page argues is the part that decides the cost.
Worth reading next
Sources
- 01Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.3 — average price of electricity to ultimate customersU.S. Energy Information Administration ·
How these figures are produced: see our methodology.
Figures are calculated from published wattages and a published tariff, both dated above. They are good for comparing devices, not for predicting your bill: your rate, settings and usage all differ.