What is the average water usage of a dishwasher?

The average dishwasher uses approximately 6 gallons of water per cycle. Any dishwasher that is Energy Star rated is required to use no more than 4 gallons of water per load.

Unless a person is a remarkably efficient dishwasher, he probably uses less water when using a dishwasher than he does when washing dishes by hand. The average kitchen faucet flow is about 2 gallons of water per minute. Unless a person is able to wash dishes equivalent to a whole dishwasher load in two or three minutes, using a dishwasher requires less water usage than washing dishes by hand.