Subpanel Installation Cost (2026) — Typical US Range

Adding a subpanel on a common US single-family house — 60, 100, or 125 amps, a feeder from a main panel that already has the capacity and a legal space, a run that does not need a long trench, a permit, and an inspection — often clusters around $900–$3,500. The wider national spread, about $700–$7,000, covers a very short 60-amp feeder on an open wall in a lower-cost area at the low end and a long trench, a heavy feeder, or a bore under a walk at the high end. A detached garage with a common trench often lands around $2,000–$4,000, which can sit in the upper part of the typical band and can leave it. A full service upgrade, a trench that cuts a driveway, or a run the truck cannot reach can clear the wider spread. These are typical planning ranges, not a survey and not a quote.

The price on the subpanel carton is not the job. A panel at a home center can look like a couple of hundred dollars. The cost to add a subpanel is the feeder, the breaker in the main panel, the conduit or the trench, the permit, and whatever the service has to become before that feeder is legal to land. Price the run and the service you have, not the metal box.

The rows below are ways to read one job. They are not added together. A short 100-amp run is one of the amperage rows. An attached garage is the same kind of job when the feeder never leaves the building. Those rows sit inside the typical band. The detached row already includes a common trench, and it can sit above that band while staying inside the wider spread. The per-foot line is how to read a longer or shorter trench, not a second bill on top of the detached row. The permit is already inside the installed ranges.

Scope	Typical planning range
60-amp subpanel, short run	$900–$1,600
100-amp subpanel, short run	$1,200–$2,200
125-amp subpanel, short run	$1,500–$2,800
Attached garage	$900–$2,500
Detached garage, with trenching	$2,000–$4,000
Trenching, open soil	$10–$25 per foot
Permit	$50–$300

A 60-amp feeder a few feet along an open wall is the sort of install that sits toward the floor of the typical band. A 100-amp or 125-amp feeder on that same short path sits higher in the band because the breaker and the wire are heavier. Distance does the same work as amperage. A 60-amp feeder that has to cross the house can cost as much as a larger panel on a short run. The amperage rows assume a short run. They are not a promise that a 125-amp feeder stays under $2,800 once the path gets long.

What the range includes

The typical band assumes an existing single-family home, one subpanel of 60, 100, or 125 amps, and a main panel that already has spare capacity and a legal two-pole space for the feeder breaker. It includes the subpanel, a four-wire feeder, that breaker, grounding and bonding for the new panel, a permit, and inspection. The run stays on or in the house, or steps into an attached garage: conduit on an open wall, a basement path, or a short route that does not need a trench. A panel upgrade is not included. An EV charger, a standby generator, and the circuits that will live in the new panel are not included.

In the subpanel, the neutral and the equipment ground stay separate. That separation is ordinary scope. So is a feeder of four conductors: two hots, a neutral, and an equipment ground. A detached building usually needs its own grounding electrodes as well as that equipment ground. An attached garage on the same building does not. Those electrodes belong on a detached bid. They are not a surprise after inspection fails.

An easy attached-garage install in a lower-cost area, with the main panel on the same wall or a few feet away, sits toward the floor of the typical band. A 125-amp feeder, a path through a finished ceiling, or a high-labor metro on that same short run sits at the top of the band. It can leave the band without any trench.

The floor of the national spread, near $700, is that very short 60-amp feeder on an open wall where the main panel is already acceptable. It is not a panel someone priced without the feeder, and it is not a cord. The top, toward $7,000, is where a long trench, a heavier feeder, and difficult soil or a bore under a walk usually land together. A cut through a driveway, or a service upgrade the house needs before the feeder can be landed, can clear that top. Treat a number above it as a different scope and ask which driver caused it.

The detached row, $2,000–$4,000, is a common yard run: an open trench in ordinary soil, conduit, the feeder, grounding electrodes at the garage, the subpanel, a permit, and inspection. A short detached run in a lower-cost area sits toward $2,000. A longer yard, a 125-amp feeder, or a high-labor metro sits toward $4,000 and can leave that row for the wider spread. Use about $10–$25 a foot as a planning allowance for the open trench itself, conduit and backfill, not the feeder cable and not the panel. A 40-foot trench at that allowance is a few hundred dollars to about a thousand, which is why a detached job starts above a same-wall install and why a very long trench climbs out of the detached row. Rock, a bore, or pavement are not that allowance.

None of the bands include the Level 2 charger the garage panel is often there to feed, a standby generator and its transfer switch, or a heat pump that may be why the load calculation fails. Price those on their own guides. If the conduit has to cross a driveway, cutting or boring the pavement is its own cost, and so is any paving repair afterward. Do not fold the charger into the subpanel line, and do not fold the subpanel into the panel-upgrade line.

As a cross-check, not a bid: a short attached run with a 60- or 100-amp subpanel is the typical band. A 125-amp feeder through finished space is often discussed from the upper part of that band. A detached garage with a common trench is the $2,000–$4,000 row. Ask for a subpanel-only price and a service-upgrade price as two proposals if nobody has done a load calculation yet. Ask for the feeder length, the gauge, and the trench as their own lines so you can see the panel versus the wire.

Region changes the labor and the permit. A clear attached wall in a lower-cost area sits toward the floor of the typical band. The same 100-amp subpanel in a high-labor city, on a tight lot, sits at the top of that band and can leave it. Permit fees vary by place. An ordinary residential electrical permit is often about $50–$300 and already sits inside the installed ranges. Ask for it as its own line anyway. These ranges do not subtract a rebate, and a rebate is not a reason to skip the permit.

What moves the price

Driver	How it changes the bid
Amperage	A short 60-amp feeder sits toward the floor of the typical band. A 100-amp feeder on that same path is often about $1,200–$2,200. A 125-amp feeder sits higher. The rating is the feeder. It does not add amps to the service.
Distance and gauge	A few feet of smaller copper or aluminum is the short-run job. A long feeder is more wire and more labor. A higher amp rating needs heavier gauge, and a long run can need heavier gauge than the breaker size alone would suggest, because voltage drop adds up. The bid should name the gauge and the length.
Trenching	An attached garage often needs no trench. A detached garage needs a trench, conduit, and usually grounding electrodes at the garage. Open soil is the $10–$25 a foot allowance. Rock, a bore, or a cut through a driveway leaves that allowance.
Main panel capacity	Spare spaces are not spare amperage. A load calculation decides whether the typical band applies. A 100-amp service that already runs central air, a dryer, and an electric range often needs the panel project first. A full panel that has the amperage but no legal two-pole space still cannot land the feeder until a legal space exists.
Permit and inspection	A new panel and a new feeder are permitted work in most cities. An ordinary permit, often about $50–$300, belongs in the bid and is already inside the installed ranges. An HOA review or a historic-district review is extra time.
Service upgrade	A subpanel does not turn 100 amps into 200. When the calculation fails, or the main panel is obsolete, heat-damaged, or has no legal space for the feeder, the job is the panel guide, with or without a subpanel after it.

If the subpanel is there so a garage can take an EV charger, say so before anyone picks 60, 100, or 125 amps. A charger is a continuous load. A 60-amp subpanel can be the wrong panel for that circuit even when the trench would have been the same. A workshop with a welder, a compressor, and a heater is a load calculation, not a guess from the number of empty breaker spaces. A heat pump competing for the same service is the same conversation. Say so before the inspector asks what else the house runs.

A standby generator is a different project. It needs a transfer switch at the service, not a subpanel standing in for that switch. A garage subpanel does not, by itself, back up the house. If both are on the list, ask for two prices.

Copper costs more than aluminum on the same amp rating. Aluminum is a common feeder material when it is sized and terminated for the job. The choice is the electrician’s, and it should be a line you can see. Labor does not shrink because the panel was on sale.

DIY or hire

Hire a licensed electrician for the feeder and the subpanel. The work lands in the main panel, on the house side of a new breaker, and it is permitted in most places. Many jurisdictions will not treat a new feeder as an owner project. A mistake on feeder size, on the neutral-to-ground bond, or on a detached grounding electrode shows up as heat or as a failed inspection.

You can still decide which wall the panel goes on, which circuits move to it, and whether the garage is attached or a walk across the yard. Clear the wall. If you buy the panel yourself, confirm that the electrician will stand behind the feeder, the breaker, and the inspection. Do not land the wires in the main panel and ask someone to close the cover.

A subpanel needs a legal two-pole space in the main panel. Double-tapping a breaker to make that space, or borrowing a dryer circuit, is how a feeder overheats. The service itself, when the calculation says the house cannot carry the new load, is the panel guide. A service change is not a weekend project, and neither is the feeder.

Repair or replace

Add a subpanel when a load calculation says the service can carry what you are adding, the main panel has a legal space for the feeder, and what you need is more breaker spaces or a panel in the garage, a workshop, or a remodel. That is the job this range describes. It is often the smaller project when the house is already on a service large enough for the loads.

Upgrade the service when the calculation says the house cannot carry the new load, or the main panel is obsolete, heat-damaged, or has no legal way to accept a feeder breaker. A 100-amp service that already runs central air, a dryer, and a range is a capacity problem. A subpanel downstream of it does not create amps. Price that decision on the panel guide, and ask for the subpanel as a second price if the garage still needs its own panel after the service grows.

Repair when one breaker is bad, a connection is loose, or a single circuit is the thing that trips, and the panel you have is listed, has legal spaces, and shows no heat damage. A new subpanel does not fix a hot main panel. A new main panel does not, by itself, put circuits in a detached garage.

Frequent tripping is a clue, not a diagnosis. A breaker can trip because the breaker is bad, a tool is failing, or too much equipment shares one circuit. The subpanel is the answer when the space or the location is the limit. It is not the answer when the service is the limit. If an EV charger is the load that will not fit, price the charger and the feeder as separate lines on the same bid so you can see the device versus the panel.

How to use this number

Ask for bids that state the subpanel amp rating, the feeder length and path, the wire gauge and whether it is copper or aluminum, whether a trench is included and how long it is, whether grounding electrodes at a detached building are included, whether a load calculation was done, who pulls the permit, and whether a service upgrade is included or excluded. Compare a short run on an adequate main panel with the typical band of $900–$3,500. Compare an attached garage with the $900–$2,500 row. Compare a detached garage and a common trench with $2,000–$4,000. Compare a long trench, rock, or a bore with the wider spread, and make the service upgrade an option so you can see the subpanel versus the service.

These bands are the cost of the work. They do not subtract incentives. A utility or local rebate, where one is open, is a separate approval. Do not accept a bid that has already subtracted a rebate you have not received.

A very low bid on a subpanel is a reason to ask whether the feeder, the trench, the permit, and the inspection are included, not a reason to celebrate. A high bid should name the trench, the bore, the gauge, or the main panel. Two or three local bids on the same wall and the same amp rating are the number that matters. How this site sets the band is explained on the methodology page.