Dishwasher statistics show a large installed base in U.S. homes, uneven adoption across housing types and household groups, and measurable efficiency gains in newer products. The figures below identify the population, geography, period, and whether each number is a survey estimate, modeled estimate, criterion, observation, or forecast.
Key Dishwasher Statistics
The most broadly useful figures are:
- In 2020, 89.79 million U.S. housing units had a dishwasher.
- In 2020, 33.74 million U.S. housing units lacked a dishwasher.
- In 2020, 17.11 million U.S. homes used a dishwasher zero times per week.
- In 2020, 26.32 million U.S. homes used a dishwasher two to three times per week.
- In 2020, 13.17 million U.S. homes used a dishwasher at least seven times per week.
- In 2020, 28.29 million U.S. homes had a dishwasher aged five to nine years.
- In 2020, 61.22 million U.S. detached single-family homes were counted in the housing-unit appliance table.
- In 2020, 7.60 million U.S. homes in five-or-more-unit apartments lacked a dishwasher.
- In 2020, 66.60 million U.S. owner-occupied homes had a dishwasher.
- In 2020, 17.43 million U.S. renter-occupied homes lacked a dishwasher.
- In 2020, 10.47 million U.S. owner-occupied homes used a dishwasher at least seven times per week.
- In 2020, 34.84 million U.S. two-member households had a dishwasher.
- In 2020, 12.55 million U.S. one-member households lacked a dishwasher.
- In 2020, 14.86 million U.S. homes built from 2010 through 2015 had dishwashers.
- In 2020, 35.84 million homes in the U.S. South had a dishwasher.
- Under criteria effective July 19, 2023, standard ENERGY STAR dishwashers were capped at 240 kWh per year.
- Under criteria effective July 19, 2023, standard ENERGY STAR dishwashers were capped at 3.2 gallons per cycle.
- ENERGY STAR guidance accessed October 3, 2026, estimates about $50 per year to run a standard-size certified dishwasher.
- In 2020, 97 million dishwashers were in use in the EU27.
- The European Commission projected 126 million EU27 dishwashers in 2030.
Contents
- U.S. dishwasher ownership and weekly use
- Dishwasher adoption by housing type
- Dishwasher ownership by tenure
- Dishwasher use by household size
- Dishwasher prevalence by home and appliance age
- Regional dishwasher statistics
- Dishwasher water, energy, and cost benchmarks
U.S. Dishwasher Ownership and Weekly Use
The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s 2020 Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) tables estimate appliance counts for housing units, not individual people. In that survey, 89.79 million U.S. homes had dishwashers, while 33.74 million did not.
Source: Table HC3.1 Appliances in U.S. homes, by housing unit type, 2020.
Weekly use varied substantially among U.S. homes. The EIA categories are categorical survey estimates rather than a single measured national average.
| Weekly dishwasher use | U.S. homes, 2020 |
|---|---|
| Zero times | 17.11 million |
| Two to three times | 26.32 million |
| Four to six times | 19.34 million |
| At least seven times | 13.17 million |
The same EIA table estimates that 28.29 million U.S. homes had a dishwasher aged five to nine years in 2020. The age figure describes the appliance age category in the survey and should not be read as a service-life forecast.
Dishwasher Adoption Statistics by Housing Type
Housing form is an important context for interpreting appliance ownership. The 2020 EIA housing-unit table identifies the following housing-unit counts by type; these are not ownership rates within each type.
| U.S. housing type | Housing units, 2020 |
|---|---|
| Detached single-family | 61.22 million |
| Attached single-family | 5.74 million |
| Apartments with 2–4 units | 4.30 million |
| Apartments with 5 or more units | 15.23 million |
| Mobile homes | 3.29 million |
Within the same table, 9.97 million detached homes used a dishwasher at least seven times weekly. By contrast, 7.60 million homes in five-or-more-unit apartments lacked a dishwasher, illustrating why housing type and appliance access should be discussed together rather than treated as interchangeable adoption measures.
Source: Table HC3.1 Appliances in U.S. homes, by housing unit type, 2020. The EIA values are survey estimates with categorical usage definitions.
Dishwasher Ownership by Tenure
Owner-occupied and renter-occupied homes showed different appliance counts in the 2020 EIA tenure table. Owners had 66.60 million equipped homes, while renters had 23.18 million equipped homes.
| Tenure measure | Owners | Renters |
|---|---|---|
| Homes with a dishwasher | 66.60 million | 23.18 million |
| Homes without a dishwasher | 16.32 million | 17.43 million |
| Homes using one at least seven times weekly | 10.47 million | 2.69 million |
| Homes with an appliance aged five to nine years | 20.17 million | Not supplied |
These are counts of U.S. housing units by tenure, not percentages of owners and renters. The table therefore describes the scale of each group in the survey and should not be used to infer a tenure-specific ownership rate without the corresponding denominators.
Source: Table HC3.2 Appliances in U.S. homes, by housing tenure, 2020.
Dishwasher Use and Adoption by Household Size
Household size also shaped the number of equipped U.S. homes in 2020. The EIA table reports 21.03 million one-member households, 34.84 million two-member households, 14.10 million three-member households, 12.01 million four-member households, and 7.81 million households with five or more members with dishwashers.
| Household size | Equipped U.S. homes, 2020 |
|---|---|
| One member | 21.03 million |
| Two members | 34.84 million |
| Three members | 14.10 million |
| Four members | 12.01 million |
| Five or more members | 7.81 million |
The same source reports 12.55 million one-member households without a dishwasher and 3.00 million households with five or more members without one. Because these are counts rather than rates, they reflect both appliance prevalence and the number of homes represented by each household-size category.
Source: Table HC3.4 Appliances in U.S. homes, by number of household members, 2020.
Dishwasher Prevalence by Home Age and Appliance Age
The 2020 EIA home-age table provides dishwasher counts across construction periods. The figures below refer to U.S. homes in each reported home-age category, not to the age of the dishwasher itself.
| Year home was built | Homes with dishwashers, 2020 |
|---|---|
| Before 1950 | 11.06 million |
| 1950–1959 | 7.20 million |
| 1970–1979 | 7.88 million |
| 1980–1989 | 12.71 million |
| 2000–2009 | 14.43 million |
| 2010–2015 | 14.86 million |
| 2016–2020 | 5.06 million |
The largest supplied count is 14.86 million homes built from 2010 through 2015 with dishwashers, followed by 14.43 million homes built from 2000 through 2009. Missing construction-period categories in this compact table were not supplied and are not estimated here.
Source: Table HC3.3 Appliances in U.S. homes, by year home was built, 2020.
Regional Dishwasher Ownership Statistics
The EIA’s 2020 regional table reports equipped-home counts for U.S. regions and subregions. These figures are counts of housing units with dishwashers, so they should not be interpreted as regional adoption percentages.
| U.S. region or division | Equipped homes, 2020 |
|---|---|
| South | 35.84 million |
| West | 21.10 million |
| South Atlantic | 19.46 million |
| East South Central | 5.33 million |
| West South Central | 11.06 million |
| Mountain | 7.47 million |
| Pacific | 13.63 million |
The supplied regional categories have different geographic scopes: “South” and “West” are broad census regions, while South Atlantic, East South Central, West South Central, Mountain, and Pacific are divisions. They are therefore useful as source-defined groups, but broad regions and their component divisions should not be added together without a matching classification framework.
Source: Table HC3.8 Appliances in U.S. homes, by census division and region, 2020.
Dishwasher Water, Energy, and Cost Benchmarks
ENERGY STAR criteria and guidance provide product benchmarks, not observed averages for every dishwasher in the market. Criteria effective July 19, 2023 cap a standard dishwasher at 240 kWh per year and 3.2 gallons per cycle, while compact models are capped at 155 kWh per year and 2.0 gallons per cycle.
| ENERGY STAR measure | Standard dishwasher | Compact dishwasher |
|---|---|---|
| Annual energy cap | 240 kWh/year | 155 kWh/year |
| Water-use cap | 3.2 gallons/cycle | 2.0 gallons/cycle |
ENERGY STAR’s annual dishwasher calculation uses 215 cycles per year, which is a standardized calculation assumption rather than measured household behavior. Its guidance, accessed October 3, 2026, estimates that a standard-size certified dishwasher costs about $50 per year to run, can save about 5,800 gallons over its lifetime, and saves 8,400 gallons of water per year compared with handwashing; actual costs and savings vary with rates, use, and comparison assumptions.
Sources: Dishwashers Key Product Criteria | ENERGY STAR and Dishwashers | ENERGY STAR.
The European Commission provides a separate EU27 perspective through Ecodesign Impact Accounting estimates. It reported 97 million dishwashers in use in 2020 and projected 126 million units in 2030; the latter is a forecast, not an observed 2030 count.
| EU27 dishwasher measure | 1990 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Average electricity consumption of newly sold units | 310 kWh/year | 174 kWh/year |
| Average water consumption of newly sold units | 30 liters/cycle | 10 liters/cycle |
For EU27 household dishwashers in 2020, the Commission model assumed 220 cycles per year, estimated 197 billion place settings washed, and estimated 214 billion liters of water used. Its modeled household averages were 19 place settings per household per week and 21 liters of water per household per week.
These European figures are model-based impact-accounting estimates unless identified as historical observations, and their 2030 value is a projection. They should not be combined with U.S. EIA housing-unit counts or ENERGY STAR qualification limits as though the populations, periods, and definitions were identical.
Source: Dishwashers – European Commission.