Dishwashers running costs

Reading the dishwasher ranking

Dishwashers are unusual in this index because most of a cycle's electricity does not go to the motor or pump, it goes to a booster heater that raises incoming water to sanitizing temperature. That single design detail means place-setting capacity and cycle length explain most of the cost differences on this leaderboard, more than horsepower or spray-arm design ever could.

One thing worth knowing about this class's data specifically: our dataset does not carry a separate drying-method or cycle-count field for dishwashers, only capacity and annual kWh. Two models with very similar place-setting capacity and running cost can still differ in ways this ranking cannot show, heated-dry versus air-dry being the most common. Treat two dishwashers within a few dollars a year of each other as roughly tied rather than meaningfully ranked against each other.

Across the 709 certified dishwashers we track, running cost ranges from $15 to $45 a year with a median of $44/yr, notably close to the top of that range; most of the 709 models we track cluster toward the expensive end of that range, with a smaller group of standout models pulling the bottom down to $15/yr. That is a narrower, more compressed spread than most other classes we track, so the gap between a good and an average dishwasher here is smaller in dollar terms than it is for, say, a refrigerator or a clothes dryer.

What to weigh when comparing models

Because the dollar spread in this class is comparatively tight, place-setting capacity matched to your household is usually a bigger factor in your real bill than chasing the single cheapest-ranked model. If your dishwasher has a heated-dry option, switching to air-dry or a rinse-aid setting will do more for your real electricity use than any spec on this page.

How we score this class

Every figure here follows the same formula: each model's published annual kWh from ENERGY STAR, multiplied by the US average residential rate of $0.1856/kWh. Full methodology on how we score, or use the calculator for your own rate.