Whole-House Rewiring Cost in 2026
Last updated: September 2026
Whole-house rewiring is priced by square footage, not a flat number. Here's the per-square-foot reference range, a worked example for common home sizes, signs your home may need it, and a free calculator to check your own quote.
Reference range per square foot
$5–$17 / sq ft
Estimated national reference range: This is an estimated national reference range based on early (V1) research — not a guaranteed local price. Actual costs depend on your specific project and location.
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Whole-House Rewiring Cost by Square Footage
Each row is calculated the same way the calculator above does: square footage × $5 to $17.
| Home size | Reference range |
|---|---|
| 1,000 sq ft | $5,000–$17,000 |
| 1,500 sq ft | $7,500–$25,500 |
| 2,000 sq ft | $10,000–$34,000 |
| 2,500 sq ft | $12,500–$42,500 |
| 3,000 sq ft | $15,000–$51,000 |
Have a different square footage? Use the calculator above — it runs the exact same formula for your home's actual size and compares it against a quote you've received. Estimated national reference range: This is an estimated national reference range based on early (V1) research — not a guaranteed local price. Actual costs depend on your specific project and location.
Signs Your Home May Need Rewiring
- Frequently tripping breakers
- Breakers that trip repeatedly under normal use can point to wiring that's undersized or degraded, not just an overloaded circuit.
- Flickering or dimming lights
- Lights that flicker or dim when other appliances turn on can indicate loose connections or wiring that can't keep up with demand.
- Warm outlets or switches
- An outlet or switch plate that feels warm to the touch is worth having inspected promptly.
- Two-prong, ungrounded outlets
- Outlets with only two prongs (no ground) are common in homes with older wiring and don't offer the same protection as modern grounded circuits.
- Visible older wiring types
- Cloth-insulated or knob-and-tube wiring, where visible in an attic or basement, no longer meets modern code and is a common reason insurers require rewiring. A licensed electrician can tell you what type of wiring your home actually has.
- Your home predates modern wiring standards
- Homes built before roughly the 1960s–70s more often have wiring types or capacities that don't meet current code — age alone isn't proof you need rewiring, but it's a reasonable prompt to have it checked.
None of these signs mean rewiring is definitely required — only a licensed electrician can make that call after inspecting your home in person.
What Drives Cost Within the Range
- Occupied vs. vacant
- Working around furniture, belongings, and daily life in an occupied home generally takes longer than an empty house or new construction.
- Wall access difficulty
- Open stud walls (during a renovation) are far easier to rewire than finished walls — especially older plaster-and-lath construction, which often requires patching afterward.
- Panel or service upgrade bundled in
- Rewiring projects often reveal that the panel or service itself also needs upgrading — bundling that work into the same project adds cost beyond the per-square-foot figure alone.
- Home size and layout
- Larger, more spread-out floor plans mean longer wire runs per circuit even at the same total square footage.
If a panel or service upgrade is part of your project, our 100A to 200A upgrade cost guide has separate reference data for that piece of the work.
What's Typically Included
- Removing old wiring and installing new, code-compliant wiring throughout the home
- New outlets, switches, and fixture connections as needed
- Grounding brought up to current code
- Patching walls/ceilings where wiring was accessed (scope varies — confirm with your electrician)
- Permit filing and a final inspection sign-off
What to Ask Your Electrician
- Is this whole-house rewiring, or a more targeted scope for specific rooms/circuits?
- Does the quote include drywall/plaster patching afterward, or is that separate?
- Does this project also include a panel or service upgrade?
- What's the estimated timeline, and will I need to be out of the home for any of it?
- Get at least one more quote so you have something to compare against.
Your quote may vary because of permits, utility requirements, meter work, panel location, wiring condition, code upgrades, and project complexity. Being above this reference range does not necessarily mean the quote is overpriced.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to rewire a house?
Our current national reference range is $5–$17 per square foot. For a typical home, that works out to roughly $10,000–$30,000 total. This is an estimated reference range, not a guaranteed local price — actual cost depends on accessibility, home size, and whether other work is bundled in.
Why is there such a wide range per square foot?
Because "rewiring" can mean very different amounts of work depending on wall access. Open-stud construction (like during a larger renovation) sits toward the lower end; occupied homes with finished plaster walls that need patching sit toward the higher end.
Do I need to rewire my whole house, or just part of it?
Not always the whole thing — some homes only need specific circuits, rooms, or the oldest sections of wiring addressed. A licensed electrician can inspect your home and tell you whether full rewiring or a more targeted scope makes sense.
Does rewiring include a new panel?
Not automatically — rewiring the branch circuits throughout the home and upgrading the panel/service are technically separate projects, though they're often done together since a rewiring project frequently uncovers panel issues too. Confirm explicitly what your quote covers.
How long does whole-house rewiring take?
It varies significantly with home size and wall accessibility, but this is typically one of the more disruptive electrical projects — expect it to take days rather than hours, and ask your electrician for a realistic timeline before starting.
Methodology and Sources
National reference cost-per-square-foot range for rewiring an entire home, applied to the home's square footage. A typical whole-house project lands around $10,000–$30,000.
This is an early-stage (V1) national reference point, not a hyper-local estimate. No ZIP-code or regional adjustment is applied yet.
Sources
- HomeGuide — Cost to Rewire a House
National reference cost-per-square-foot range for rewiring an entire home, applied to the home's square footage. A typical whole-house project lands around $10,000–$30,000.
Last updated: September 2026