How much of US electricity comes from hydropower?

Hydropower made 5.6% of US electricity in 2025, down from 32% in 1949. Dams make about as much as they did in 1970, while total generation nearly tripled; the share also moves with rain and snow, dipping in dry years. The 2025 figures are preliminary.

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Key facts

Measure: Share of US electricity generation (%). Written from the data below.

  • The latest figure, for 2025, is 5.6%.
  • That is down 26.4 percentage points from 32% in 1949.
  • The highest was 32% in 1949.
  • It is the lowest in the data, which go back to 1949.

Source and date

Source
U.S. Energy Information Administration, Monthly Energy Review (Table 7.2a)
License
Public domain (U.S. government work)
Data as of
Published

Citation

Chartly. “How much of US electricity comes from hydropower?” Chart. Data: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Monthly Energy Review (Table 7.2a), https://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly/ (data as of December 31, 2025). https://chart.ly/charts/hydropower-share-of-us-electricity (accessed October 15, 2026).

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The data

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The file has the numbers in this table, with the source, license and date. Please credit the source and Chartly.

Year Share of US electricity generation (%)
1949 32
1950 30.2
1951 27.8
1952 27.2
1953 24.5
1954 23.4
1955 21.1
1956 20.7
1957 21
1958 22.1
1959 19.8
1960 19.7
1961 19.5
1962 20
1963 18.4
1964 18.3
1965 18.6
1966 17.2
1967 18.5
1968 16.9
1969 17.5
1970 16.3
1971 16.7
1972 15.7
1973 14.8
1974 16.3
1975 15.8
1976 14.1
1977 10.5
1978 12.8
1979 12.6
1980 12.2
1981 11.5
1982 13.9
1983 14.5
1984 13.4
1985 11.5
1986 11.8
1987 9.8
1988 8.4
1989 9.2
1990 9.6
1991 9.4
1992 8.2
1993 8.8
1994 8
1995 9.3
1996 10.1
1997 10.2
1998 8.9
1999 8.6
2000 7.2
2001 5.8
2002 6.9
2003 7.1
2004 6.8
2005 6.7
2006 7.1
2007 6
2008 6.2
2009 6.9
2010 6.3
2011 7.8
2012 6.8
2013 6.6
2014 6.3
2015 6.1
2016 6.6
2017 7.4
2018 7
2019 7
2020 7.1
2021 6.1
2022 6
2023 5.9
2024 5.6
2025 5.6

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