What this site is
There is no shortage of pages listing electricity rates by state. Most of them are one of two things: a scraped table with no explanation, or a lead-generation funnel whose real purpose is to sell you a supply contract. Both leave the same question unanswered. Why does a kilowatt-hour cost three times more in one state than in another?
StateRates exists to answer that. Every state page carries the current figure, the year-over-year change, the national ranking and a source citation, then explains the specific mechanism behind that state's number: whether it is hydroelectric dams paid off decades ago, a constrained gas pipeline, a wildfire mitigation programme, a capacity market repricing, or the absence of shareholders.
What we do not do
We do not sell electricity, broker supply contracts, or take commissions from energy retailers. We do not run a "compare and switch" funnel. We have no affiliate relationships with utilities, retail energy providers, solar installers or brokers.
That matters for how you should read the site. When we say a competitive supplier market has produced poor outcomes for residential customers in a particular state, there is no commercial reason for us to say it. The same is true when we say a market works well.
How it is funded
StateRates is supported by display advertising served through Google AdSense. Advertisements are labelled and are served by Google based on Google's own targeting; we do not choose individual advertisers, and no advertiser has any input into our editorial content, our rankings or our data.
If that ever changes, meaning we introduce sponsored content, affiliate links or any other commercial relationship, it will be disclosed on this page and labelled on the pages it affects. See our editorial policy for the full commitment.
Where the data comes from
Rate figures come from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, a statistical agency within the Department of Energy that collects monthly filings from electric utilities. The current data period is May 2026. Our methodology page sets out exactly which series we use, what we calculate ourselves, how we round, and what the figures cannot tell you. Our sources page lists every dataset the site draws on.
We publish the compiled dataset as CSV and JSON so that anyone can check our arithmetic or use the data themselves.
What is coming
Electricity is the first dataset. The same approach of federal data, computed comparisons and an explanation of the mechanism applies to a number of other rates that vary sharply by state and are badly served online. We are working on natural gas prices, average residential consumption, and commercial and industrial electricity rates.
Contact
Corrections, questions and data requests: hello@staterates.org, or use the contact page. We correct factual errors promptly.