I ran my whole little house+farm in Indiana off a 5kW (7.5kW surge) generator for a week, and then on and off during other power outages. It was 12+ years ago, so I don't remember exactly how much I spent, but I'm pretty cheap and didn't have much cash back then so I suspect it was about $500.

It was a small household, no AC, but well pumps, fridges etc and it ran just fine.