Christmas Lights Electricity Cost: LED vs. Incandescent (2026)

Every holiday season, the same question comes up: “How much do Christmas lights add to my electric bill?” The answer depends almost entirely on one decision — whether you use LED or incandescent bulbs. The difference is dramatic, and it adds up fast when you’re lighting up your entire home.

LED vs. Incandescent: The Wattage Breakdown

The core difference between LED and incandescent Christmas lights is wattage. Traditional incandescent mini-lights use about 0.4–0.5 watts per bulb. LEDs use about 0.07 watts per bulb — roughly 85–90% less. Here’s how that plays out across common string lengths:

Cost to Run a Typical Christmas Display

Let’s calculate the real cost of a modest home display: 10 strings of 100-bulb mini lights running 6 hours per night for 45 days (Thanksgiving through New Year’s). We’ll use the national average electricity rate of 16.5¢/kWh.

For a modest display, switching from incandescent to LED saves you about $10–$15 per season. But for larger displays — think rooflines, trees, yard decorations, and window displays — the difference can easily reach $50–$100+ per season.

Beyond String Lights: Other Holiday Decorations

String lights are just one part of a holiday display. Here’s what other popular decorations cost to run:

Full Display Cost Estimates by Size

Here’s what a complete holiday display typically costs to power for the season, broken down by scale:

5 Ways to Cut Your Holiday Lighting Costs

1. Switch to LED. This is the single biggest thing you can do. If you still have incandescent strings, replace them. LED Christmas lights last 10–25 times longer, too, so you won’t be buying replacements every year.
2. Use a timer. A $5 outdoor timer can save you 30–50% on holiday lighting costs by ensuring lights aren’t running while you sleep or when no one’s home to see them. Set lights to run 5–6 hours per night instead of 10+.
3. Go solar where possible. Solar-powered LED string lights and path lights cost nothing to run. They’re ideal for walkways, fence lines, and bushes that get direct sunlight during the day.
4. Use LED projectors instead of strings. A single LED laser projector covering your entire house facade uses 5–10 watts — less than a single string of incandescent lights. They’re also dramatically easier to install and remove.
5. Limit inflatable runtime. Inflatables are the biggest hidden energy consumer in holiday displays because their fans run constantly. Put them on a timer and only run them during prime viewing hours (6–10 PM).

The National Picture

Americans collectively spend an estimated 6.6 billion kWh on holiday lighting each year — more electricity than the entire nation of El Salvador uses annually. The shift to LED has dramatically reduced this figure over the past decade, but there’s still plenty of room for improvement.

If every U.S. household that still uses incandescent Christmas lights switched to LED, the country would save enough electricity to power 200,000 homes for an entire year.

“Holiday lights account for about 6.6 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity consumption each year in the U.S. — more than the annual electricity use of many developing countries.”
— U.S. Department of Energy

How to Calculate Your Own Display Cost

Here’s the simple formula to calculate the cost of any electrical decoration:

Cost = (Watts × Hours per Day × Days) ÷ 1,000 × Rate per kWh

For example, a 400-watt incandescent display running 6 hours per night for 45 days at 16.5¢/kWh:

(400 × 6 × 45) ÷ 1,000 × $0.165 = $17.82

To find your local electricity rate, check your most recent electric bill or view average rates by state.