Ceiling fan light kits: lumens, efficacy and color
The 157 light-kit fans on the certified list that report their light output have a median of 1,481 lumens at 79.3 lumens per watt. Of those fans, 97% reach a color rendering index of 90 or more, and 23% let the user pick between color temperatures.
What the list records about lights
Of the 712 fan listings, 297 include a light kit, but only 157 of those report light output; the rest leave the field blank. Every figure on this page is therefore “of the 157 that report it”. Efficacy, in lumens per watt, is computed by this site from the listed light output and the listed light-kit input watts. The fan's own watts, on high, low and standby, are listed separately and do not include the light.
Modern Forms reports light output for the most fans (34), followed by Fanimation (26) and WAC Lighting (25), so those brands weigh heavily in the medians below.
Brightness and efficacy
| Measure | Low end (10th pct) | Median | High end (90th pct) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light output | 1,006 lumens | 1,481 lumens | 2,200 lumens |
| Light-kit input | 15.0 W | 20.0 W | 24.0 W |
| Efficacy | 68.8 lm/W | 79.3 lm/W | 94.1 lm/W |
Most kits fall between about 1,006 and 2,200 lumens. Efficacy is more tightly grouped: the middle 80 percent sit between 68.8 and 94.1 lm/W.
Light-kit fans that report light output, by efficacy in bins of 10 lm/W.
The top efficacy on the list, 113.8 lm/W, is shared by 3 fans: Hunter Advocate, Hunter Gravity and Hunter Phenomenon. They report the same 1,593 lumens from 14.0 W. The lowest is the Monte Carlo Discus Smart at 65.8 lm/W.
Color temperature and color rendering
Color temperature is listed in kelvin. A single 3000K option is by far the most common, on 109 of the 157 fans. More than one temperature is listed for 36 fans.
| Color temperature | Fans offering it | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 3000K | 133 | 85% |
| 4000/4100K | 37 | 24% |
| 3500K | 21 | 13% |
| 5000K | 21 | 13% |
| 2700K | 19 | 12% |
Color rendering is high across the board. The most common CRI value is 93, on 73 fans, and only 5 of the 157 fall below 90. Dimming is close to universal: 294 of the 297 light-kit fans are listed as dimmable.
Does a light kit change the fan's CFM/W?
Not by much on the list. Among 52-inch standard fans, the 97 with a light kit post a median of 189 CFM/W against 183 for the 141 fan-only models. At that span, then, fans with and without a kit score much alike.
Light kits by span
How often a fan comes with a light kit depends on its span. Among the spans with a page, the share runs from 30% at 84 in to 52% at 62 to 66 in. The 52-inch span, with 123 light-kit fans, holds the largest number by far.
How much the light draws
The median light kit takes 20.0 W of input power. Set against the fan itself, that is less than the median standard fan draws on high, 31.3 W, but several times its draw on low. With the light on and the fan on low, the light is the larger load. The list gives the two readings separately, and the fan table shows only the fan's own watts.
Brightness by span
Kit brightness hardly follows fan size. Among the spans with ten or more fans that report light output, the median runs only from 1,440 to 1,600 lumens, and efficacy from 72.0 to 80.0 lm/W. A 52-inch kit and a 72-inch kit are, on the median, much the same light source.
The brightest kits
Of the 157 reporting fans, 25 list 2,000 lumens or more. The brightest is the CEME CES-523FL, a 52-inch fan whose kit gives 3,360 lumens from 40.0 W, or 84.0 lm/W. At the other end, the dimmest kits on the list give 900 lumens. Brightness and efficacy are separate questions: the brightest kit is not the one with the highest lumens per watt.
Who leaves the field blank
Of the 140 light-kit fans without a light-output figure, 31 are Visual Comfort & Co. models and 20 come from Minka Aire. The medians on this page therefore lean toward the brands that do report, and a brand missing from the efficacy table may simply not have filled in the field.
Reading the numbers
Light output and efficacy describe the kit as certified, with the settings the test used. The list does not say how bright a room will be or which color suits it, and this site does not either. For a side-by-side view, the light-kit page lists the twelve kits with the highest lumens per watt, and the fan table can limit any span to fans with a light kit.
Sources
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, ENERGY STAR Certified Ceiling Fans (data.energystar.gov, dataset 2te3-nmxp), retrieved October 27, 2026. Medians, percentiles and ranks are computed by this site from 712 de-duplicated fan listings; see How we rank.