Laundry Cost Calculator: Per Load, Week and Year
What laundry costs a week and a year from loads and cost per load, laundromat or at home.
Inputs
- Working
- 6 loads × 3.50 = 21.00 a week; × 52 weeks = 1,092.00
- Cost per year at this rate
- 1,092.00
- Weekly cost
- 21.00
- Loads in period
- 312
- Weeks
- 52
- Cost per load is whatever one load costs you: the machine at a laundromat, or detergent, water and electricity at home. ENERGY STAR puts the average American family at about 300 loads a year — just under 6 a week.
Use this calculator on your own site
Free embed
- Two lines of HTML, unlimited views
- Shows a small CalculateEveryday bar, with a credit link under the calculator
What each Laundry Cost input means
- Loads per week
- Loads washed in a typical week. ENERGY STAR's figure for the average American family, about 300 a year, is just under 6.
- Cost per load
- Everything one load costs: at a laundromat, the washer plus the dryer; at home, detergent and softener plus the water and energy the machines use.
- Weeks
- How many weeks to total, 52 for a year.
Laundry Cost formula
weekly = loads a week × cost per load · total = weekly × weeks
Laundry costs scale with the number of loads, so the total is loads × cost per load. At a laundromat the cost per load is the washer plus the dryer. At home it is the detergent per load, the water, and the electricity or gas for the washer and dryer — the electricity calculator turns a machine's kWh into a price. ENERGY STAR puts the average American family at about 300 loads a year, just under six a week, which is the default here; an ENERGY STAR washer uses about 20% less energy and 30% less water than a regular one, which lowers the home cost per load.
Laundry Cost worked example
Six loads a week at $3.50 each — a wash and dry at a laundromat — is $21 a week and $1,092 a year. At ENERGY STAR's average of 300 loads a year, every $1 off the cost per load saves $300.
More Laundry Cost examples
Four loads a week at home, where detergent, water and power come to $1.25 a load: 4 × 1.25 × 52 = 260.00 a year — against $728 for the same loads at $3.50 each in a laundromat.
Where the Laundry Cost calculator can give the wrong answer
- Cost per load is whatever you include: machine fees, detergent, softener, water and energy. Leaving out the dryer understates it.
- Full loads are cheaper per item than half loads; the count here is loads, not items.
- Water and energy prices vary by area; your utility bills give the rates.
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Laundry Cost FAQ
- At a laundromat, the washer and dryer prices added together. At home, the detergent per load plus the water and electricity or gas — the machine's manual or label gives its energy and water use, and your bills give the prices.
- About 300, according to ENERGY STAR — just under six a week.
- ENERGY STAR says certified washers use about 20% less energy and 30% less water than regular ones, which lowers the home cost per load.
- Loads a week × cost per load × 52. Six loads at {{$3.50}} is {{$1092}} a year.
- Usually at home once the machines are paid for, because a home load costs only the detergent, water and energy. Run the page twice — once with the laundromat's washer-and-dryer price, once with your home cost per load — and compare the yearly totals.
- Add three parts: detergent (the bottle's price ÷ the loads it says it washes), energy (the machines' kWh per load × your electricity price) and water (gallons per load × your water rate). The electricity calculator does the kWh part.