Separate freezers are a substantial part of household food storage in the United States. In 2024, an estimated 48.64 million U.S. homes used a stand-alone freezer, while 83.89 million did not. The latest appliance figures are preliminary estimates for primary-residence housing units; the 2020 electricity figures measure households using the freezer end use.
Contents
- National ownership
- Household size
- Capacity and configuration
- Income
- Home age
- Regional electricity totals
- Use and operating cost
National ownership
The EIA Table HC3.3, Appliances in U.S. homes, by year of construction, 2024, reports 132.54 million U.S. homes in 2024. Of those homes, 48.64 million used a separate freezer. In this dataset, “separate freezer” means a stand-alone appliance, distinct from the freezer compartment built into a refrigerator.
The ownership count breaks down into 41.41 million homes with one separate freezer and 7.23 million with two or more. The remaining 83.89 million homes did not use a separate freezer. These are counts of homes, not counts of appliances: a home with multiple freezers appears in the two-or-more category.
The figures describe prevalence rather than a national sales total. They do not say when a freezer was purchased, how full it was, or how much food it contained. They also do not establish that every home with a separate freezer uses it in the same way. For pantry and preserving planning, the useful distinction is simply that a large minority of U.S. homes maintain cold-storage capacity beyond the refrigerator.
Household size and freezer ownership
Household size is one way to see the scale of separate-freezer use. EIA Table HC3.4, Appliances in U.S. homes, by number of household persons, 2024 counts 17.08 million two-person households using a separate freezer, 7.70 million three-person households, and 11.50 million households with five or more people.
Multiple-freezer homes appear across household sizes. The table records 1.31 million one-person households with two or more separate freezers, 2.72 million two-person households, and 1.22 million households with five or more people. Those counts show that multiple-appliance storage is not limited to the largest households, although the figures are not ownership rates by household size.
One-person households also represent a large group without a separate freezer: 32.24 million did not use one in 2024. That number should not be read as a reason that one-person households never freeze food. It is specifically a count of homes without a stand-alone freezer and does not exclude use of a refrigerator’s freezer compartment.
Capacity and physical configuration
Among homes reporting a most-used separate freezer, the most common listed capacity band was 17.6–22.5 cubic feet, with 18.59 million homes. Another 14.73 million homes used a freezer smaller than 17.6 cubic feet, and 9.15 million used one sized 22.6–29.5 cubic feet. The remaining reported size groups included 5.34 million half-size or compact freezers and 0.84 million larger than 29.5 cubic feet.
| Most-used separate freezer category | U.S. homes, 2024 |
|---|---|
| Smaller than 17.6 cubic feet | 14.73 million |
| 17.6–22.5 cubic feet | 18.59 million |
| 22.6–29.5 cubic feet | 9.15 million |
| Half-size or compact | 5.34 million |
| Larger than 29.5 cubic feet | 0.84 million |
Physical layout was nearly split between the two major formats. The EIA table reports 25.01 million homes using a chest freezer as their most-used separate freezer and 23.63 million using an upright freezer. A chest model can fit the storage pattern of bulk foods and preserved harvests, while an upright can make shelves easier to organize, but the supplied statistics measure format—not convenience, usable volume, or food-storage performance.
Age and defrost configuration add more detail. Some 13.38 million homes had a most-used separate freezer aged 5–9 years, while 4.79 million had one aged 20 years or more. Manual defrost was reported for 25.03 million homes, compared with automatic defrost for 23.61 million. These categories describe the most-used appliance and should not be treated as a complete inventory of every freezer in homes with two or more units.
Household income and freezer ownership
The income breakdown provides counts across several broad annual household-income bands. Separate-freezer use was reported by 11.14 million homes earning $30,000–$59,999, 11.19 million earning $60,000–$99,999, 13.11 million earning $100,000–$199,999, and 5.23 million earning $200,000 or more in 2024.
For homes earning $30,000–$59,999, 9.58 million had one separate freezer. Among homes earning $100,000–$199,999, 1.98 million had two or more separate freezers. These are group counts rather than percentages. Without the total number of homes in each income band, they should not be used to rank income groups by ownership rate.
The format figures also show a close split in one higher-income band. In homes earning $100,000–$199,999, 6.55 million used an upright as their most-used separate freezer and 6.56 million used a chest freezer. In the $60,000–$99,999 band, 4.40 million homes had a medium-size most-used separate freezer. The EIA appliance tables do not make these figures a measure of affordability, food insecurity, shopping habits, or the reasons households choose a particular format.
Home age and freezer ownership
The year a home was built provides another descriptive lens. In 2024, 7.20 million homes built before 1950 used a separate freezer. The corresponding counts were 6.70 million for homes built in 2000–2009, 4.60 million for homes built in 2010–2019, and 1.96 million for homes built in 2020–2024.
Among homes built before 1950, 6.07 million had one separate freezer. For homes built in 2000–2009, the one-freezer count was 5.65 million. These figures are not rates because the number of homes in each construction-era group differs. They also describe the age of the home, not the age of the freezer.
Several appliance details are available by construction period. Homes built in 1970–1979 included 2.78 million with a medium-size most-used separate freezer. Homes built in 2020–2024 included 0.81 million with a medium-size most-used separate freezer. Among homes built in 1990–1999, 3.94 million had a chest freezer as their most-used separate freezer. The construction-year table therefore helps describe where freezer-equipped homes are counted, but it does not show that building age causes freezer ownership or appliance choice.
Regional freezer electricity totals
The EIA Table CE5.1b, Detailed household site electricity end-use consumption, part 2—totals, 2020, reports separate-freezer electricity use by U.S. region. In 2020, separate freezers used 10.1 billion kWh in the Northeast, 21.9 billion kWh in the Midwest, 33.2 billion kWh in the South, and 14.8 billion kWh in the West.
The same table reports 51.6 billion kWh in urban homes and 28.4 billion kWh in rural homes. By climate grouping, separate freezers used 30.6 billion kWh in very cold and cold regions and 24.0 billion kWh in mixed-humid regions. These totals are electricity consumed at the household site and are measured for 2020, not forecasts of 2024 or 2026 consumption.
Regional totals reflect the number of households and their freezer use together. A larger total does not by itself mean that an individual freezer is less efficient or that each household uses more electricity. The table’s geography and end-use definitions should remain attached to any comparison.
Electricity use and operating cost
The EIA CE5.3.ST state-average electricity table for 2020 reports that a U.S. household using a separate freezer consumed an average of 570 kWh for that end use in 2020. State examples were lower: 523 kWh in New Jersey, 504 kWh in New Mexico, and 467 kWh in New York.
The published averages are not a universal rating for every freezer. They describe household end-use consumption and can reflect differences in equipment, operation, climate, and the households included in the survey. The EIA notes that state differences may not be statistically significant, so small gaps should be interpreted cautiously.
For expenditure, the EIA Electricity use in homes page reports an average 2020 operating cost of $74 for a U.S. household using a separate freezer. The state expenditure table reports $80 in New Jersey, $65 in New Mexico, and $75 in New York. These are published 2020 dollar amounts, not current utility bills or a forecast of future operating costs.
Taken together, the consumption and expenditure figures show why freezer statistics need both units. A household may use 570 kWh on average nationally, while the reported cost varies by location. Electricity price, not just kWh use, affects the bill. The figures also cannot determine the cost of a particular chest or upright freezer without appliance-specific information and a household’s electricity rate.