According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the average U.S. family spends at least $2,000 per year on utilities. They estimate that adopting energy-efficient measures in the home could reduce a family’s utility costs by as much as 25%.
As for transportation, the agency found that a more fuel-efficient vehicle could save the average driver about $625 per year.
Financial analyst website WalletHub decided to find out which states in America were best at applying these energy-saving principles to save money and to help our environment.
They calculated the ratio of total residential energy consumption to annual degree days for ‘Home Energy Efficiency’, then divided the annual vehicle miles driven per capita by gallons of gasoline consumed to determine ‘Auto Energy Efficiency’.
Here were their results for the continental 48 states (they were not able to obtain sufficient data on Alaska and Hawaii):
Most & Least Energy-Efficient States
Overall Rank* | State | Total Score | ‘Home Energy Efficiency’ Rank | ‘Auto Energy Efficiency’ Rank |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | New York | 90.22 | 4 | 1 |
2 | Vermont | 84.81 | 1 | 13 |
3 | Utah | 84.12 | 2 | 8 |
4 | Minnesota | 78.05 | 3 | 18 |
5 | Massachusetts | 77.86 | 9 | 5 |
6 | Rhode Island | 76.81 | 11 | 4 |
7 | California | 75.33 | 15 | 3 |
8 | Wisconsin | 74.12 | 7 | 16 |
9 | Colorado | 74.00 | 8 | 15 |
10 | Connecticut | 71.83 | 19 | 7 |
11 | Nevada | 71.64 | 14 | 9 |
12 | New Hampshire | 70.65 | 6 | 30 |
13 | Michigan | 69.29 | 12 | 17 |
14 | Maine | 66.17 | 5 | 41 |
15 | Illinois | 64.71 | 21 | 23 |
16 | New Jersey | 63.20 | 22 | 26 |
17 | New Mexico | 62.55 | 18 | 35 |
18 | Pennsylvania | 62.27 | 24 | 19 |
19 | Arizona | 62.05 | 27 | 11 |
20 | Idaho | 61.59 | 20 | 32 |
21 | Oregon | 61.43 | 25 | 14 |
22 | Washington | 60.56 | 29 | 10 |
23 | Delaware | 59.22 | 30 | 12 |
24 | Ohio | 58.49 | 28 | 21 |
25 | Florida | 58.32 | 34 | 2 |
26 | Montana | 56.96 | 13 | 45 |
27 | Maryland | 56.62 | 31 | 20 |
28 | Iowa | 56.53 | 16 | 44 |
29 | Kansas | 53.31 | 33 | 24 |
30 | South Dakota | 52.78 | 17 | 46 |
31 | Indiana | 52.21 | 32 | 28 |
32 | Nebraska | 50.71 | 26 | 40 |
33 | North Carolina | 49.40 | 40 | 6 |
34 | Virginia | 46.23 | 36 | 27 |
35 | Missouri | 43.97 | 37 | 33 |
36 | Wyoming | 41.17 | 10 | 48 |
37 | Texas | 39.64 | 35 | 43 |
38 | Oklahoma | 39.49 | 38 | 38 |
39 | North Dakota | 38.29 | 23 | 47 |
40 | Kentucky | 37.87 | 41 | 34 |
41 | Georgia | 36.83 | 44 | 22 |
42 | Arkansas | 36.64 | 42 | 36 |
43 | West Virginia | 36.07 | 43 | 29 |
44 | Mississippi | 35.48 | 39 | 39 |
45 | Tennessee | 33.73 | 47 | 25 |
46 | Alabama | 32.44 | 46 | 31 |
47 | Louisiana | 31.17 | 45 | 37 |
48 | South Carolina | 21.51 | 48 | 42 |
N/A** | Alaska | |||
N/A** | Hawaii |
You can find out more about the methodology on Wallethub’s full report here.