Is It Cheaper to Take a Shower or a Bath?

All the recent cold weather may be causing you to spend more time in a hot shower or bath than usual. And if you pay for water (or are concerned about conserving it), you may be wondering which is harder on your wallet (and the environment): Showering or bathing? Here’s what to know.

Which uses more water: A shower or a bath?

There are a number of variables here, including the size of your bathtub (and how far you fill it to take a bath), the type of shower head you have, and how long your showers typically last.

According to the Murray Darling Basin Authority, the average shower lasts about seven minutes, and the average shower volume is around 55 litres of water.

Meanwhile, the average bath uses between 50 to 150 litres of water. To save water when taking a bath, try plugging the drain right away and then adjusting the temperature as the tub fills. Still, unless you’re taking a long shower, it’ll typically use less water than taking a bath.

How to figure out the cost of shower or a bath

Now that we know that on average, showering tends to use less water than bathing, let’s take a look at how to figure out how much it costs to get clean. To do that, you’ll need to find out how much you’re paying for water in your city.

Let’s say that you’re currently paying $0.29 for water per shower and heating cost per shower is $1.25 and you live with one other person, and you each take one eight-minute shower every day. Depending on the cost of electricity in your area (necessary for heating the water), and the type of shower head you have, a year’s worth of showers in your household will work out to around $1,125 each year.

You can use this calculator to plug in your own numbers and get an estimate for the cost of showering in your household.