Is home Bitcoin mining profitable in Montana?
What 10 home and small-farm miners earn and cost to run at Montana's average home electricity price, with a calculator for your own rate.
On a typical home rate, no. Montana's average residential price was 14.99¢ per kWh in July 2026, above the breakeven price of every miner in our table (the lowest bar is 10.16¢, for the Antminer S21 Pro 234T).
Running an Antminer S21 Pro 234T around the clock would lose about $4.07 a day, or $122 over 30 days. It would cover its power if Bitcoin traded near $120,119, with difficulty and fees where they are now.
Work out your own numbers
Pick a miner or type your own hashrate and wall watts. Use the price per kWh from your bill, and today's hashprice if it has moved.
Breakeven electricity price for this miner: –. Income = TH/s × hashprice ÷ 1,000. Hashprice is gross, before pool fees (often 0 to 2.5%), and moves with the Bitcoin price, network difficulty and fees. Hashprice $36.59 per PH/s a day ($0.0366 per TH/s), BTC $81,446, as of Oct 23, 2026.
Every miner at 14.99¢ per kWh
| Miner | Income a daygross | Power a dayat 14.99¢/kWh | Net a day | Net per 30 days | Breakeven price¢/kWh |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bitaxe Gamma 6011.07 TH/s, 17 W, 15.9 J/TH | $0.04 | $0.06 | −$0.02 | −$0.66 | 9.60¢ |
| NerdQaxe++4.9 TH/s, 76 W, 15.5 J/TH | $0.18 | $0.27 | −$0.09 | −$2.82 | 9.83¢ |
| Avalon Nano 3S6 TH/s, 140 W, 23.3 J/TH | $0.22 | $0.50 | −$0.28 | −$8.52 | 6.53¢ |
| Avalon Mini 337.5 TH/s, 800 W, 21.3 J/TH | $1.37 | $2.88 | −$1.51 | −$45.18 | 7.15¢ |
| Heatbit Maxi39 TH/s, 1,500 W, 38.5 J/TH | $1.43 | $5.40 | −$3.97 | −$119 | 3.96¢ |
| Heatbit Maxi Pro60 TH/s, 1,500 W, 25.0 J/TH | $2.20 | $5.40 | −$3.20 | −$96.03 | 6.10¢ |
| Avalon Q90 TH/s, 1,674 W, 18.6 J/TH | $3.29 | $6.02 | −$2.73 | −$81.88 | 8.20¢ |
| Antminer S19j Pro 104T104 TH/s, 3,068 W, 29.5 J/TH | $3.81 | $11.04 | −$7.23 | −$217 | 5.17¢ |
| Antminer S21 200T200 TH/s, 3,500 W, 17.5 J/TH | $7.32 | $12.59 | −$5.27 | −$158 | 8.71¢ |
| Antminer S21 Pro 234T234 TH/s, 3,510 W, 15.0 J/TH | $8.56 | $12.63 | −$4.07 | −$122 | 10.16¢ |
Running 24 hours a day at rated hashrate and wall power. Income is gross at $36.59 per PH/s a day. A negative net means the electricity costs more than the miner earns.
If you would run an electric heater anyway
A miner turns nearly all the electricity it uses into heat, just like a plug-in resistance heater. In a room you would heat with electricity anyway, the mining income works as a discount on that heat rather than a profit.
An Avalon Mini 3 on its 800 W setting uses 19.2 kWh a day: $2.88 of electricity in Montana. It earns about $1.37 a day at today's hashprice, so its heat costs the equivalent of 7.84¢ per kWh instead of 14.99¢, 48% less than an 800 W heater. A heat pump, which DOE says uses about half the electricity of resistance heat, is still cheaper for whole-home heating.
See heater miners versus space heaters and what a space heater costs in Montana.
Circuits and noise
- Miners run for hours, so they count as a continuous load. Under the National Electrical Code a load that runs 3 hours or more may use only 80% of the breaker rating: 12 A on a 15 A circuit, 16 A on a 20 A circuit.
- Plug-in heater miners sit near that limit. A 1,500 W unit such as the Heatbit Maxi Pro draws about 12.5 A at 120 V. The Avalon Q on its top mode draws about 13.9 A at 120 V, which needs a 20 A circuit.
- Antminer-class machines need 240 V. The Antminer S21 200T is rated for 220 to 277 V only and draws about 14.6 A at 240 V, so a dedicated 20 A, 240 V circuit is the usual minimum. Bitmain lists 76 dB of fan noise, which suits a garage or shed better than a living room.
- Get an electrician to check the circuit before running anything above a few hundred watts around the clock, and never use an extension cord or power strip for it.
Check your own rate
The state figure is an average across every utility and plan, including delivery charges. Your bill may be higher or lower. Many utilities offer time-of-use plans with cheaper overnight power, and a miner can be scheduled to run only in those hours. The OpenEI Utility Rate Database lists published tariffs by utility.
Nearby states
Net per 30 days for an Antminer S21 Pro 234T at each state's average home price.
Questions
How much electricity does a Bitcoin miner use in Montana?
It depends on the machine. A Bitaxe Gamma draws about 17 W, about $1.83 per 30 days at 14.99¢. An Avalon Q on its top mode draws 1,674 W, about $181. An Antminer S21 200T draws 3,500 W, about $378.
What electricity price do I need to mine Bitcoin profitably in Montana?
At today's hashprice, below 10.16¢ per kWh for an Antminer S21 Pro 234T and below 8.20¢ for an Avalon Q. The July 2026 average home price in Montana was 14.99¢. Some utilities sell cheaper off-peak power on time-of-use plans; check your tariff.
Is a small lottery miner like a Bitaxe worth running in Montana?
As a business, no: a Bitaxe Gamma's share of pool income is about $1.17 per 30 days against $1.83 of power. People run them solo, as a lottery ticket on a full block reward, or to learn. The power cost is the price of the ticket.
Do these numbers include pool fees, hardware or taxes?
No. Income is gross hashprice before pool fees. Hardware cost, repairs, cooling and taxes are not included, and the price of electricity is the state average, not your tariff.
Sources
- U.S. EIA, Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A (residential sector), July 2026. Average residential electricity price by state.
- mempool.space API (difficulty, block height, fees over the last 144 blocks). Network difficulty and fees for hashprice.
- CoinGecko (BTC price in USD). Bitcoin price for hashprice.
- Hashrate Index (Luxor), hashprice cross-check. Independent hashprice figure.
- Bitaxe Gamma 601, NerdQaxe++: maker or designer specifications. Hashrate and wall power.
- Avalon Nano 3S: maker or designer specifications. Hashrate and wall power.
- Avalon Mini 3: maker or designer specifications. Hashrate and wall power.
- Heatbit Maxi, Heatbit Maxi Pro: maker or designer specifications. Hashrate and wall power.
- Avalon Q: maker or designer specifications. Hashrate and wall power.
- Antminer S19j Pro 104T: maker or designer specifications. Hashrate and wall power.
- Antminer S21 200T: maker or designer specifications. Hashrate and wall power.
- Antminer S21 Pro 234T: maker or designer specifications. Hashrate and wall power.
- Electrical Contractor magazine: continuous loads under the NEC (125% rule). Loads running 3 hours or more count as continuous; breaker at least 125% of the load.
- U.S. DOE Energy Saver: electric resistance heating (archived copy). Resistance heat turns all the electricity it uses into heat.
- U.S. DOE: Energy Saver Guide (2022). Heat pumps use about 50% less electricity than resistance heating.
- OpenEI Utility Rate Database (U.S. DOE / NREL). Look up your own utility's tariff, including time-of-use rates.
Our derived tables are free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 with credit to WattCost and a link.