Most heating cost answers quote one national average and stop. The real number for your house moves with three things: how big it is, how cold your winters are, and what you burn. Change any one of them and the bill can double. These tables cover all three, using the same model as our heating cost by fuel calculator, so you can find a row close to your home and then refine it there.
Prices are national averages: natural gas $1.70 per therm, electricity 18¢ per kWh, propane $2.50 and heating oil $3.80 per gallon. Equipment is a typical existing system: an 80% efficient gas or propane furnace, an 85% oil boiler or furnace, electric baseboard, and an air-source heat pump. The cheapest option in each row is highlighted.
Cost to Heat a 2,000 Sq Ft House, by Climate
| Climate | Gas furnace | Heat pump | Propane | Heating oil | Electric baseboard |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hot Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix | $340 | $338 | $546 | $516 | $844 |
| Mixed Chicago, DC, Denver | $765 | $760 | $1,230 | $1,162 | $1,899 |
| Cold Boston, Hartford | $1,190 | $1,343 | $1,913 | $1,808 | $2,954 |
| Very cold Minneapolis, Buffalo | $1,700 | $2,110 | $2,732 | $2,582 | $4,220 |
Climate is the biggest lever. The same 2,000 sq ft house needs about five times as much heat near Minneapolis as near Atlanta, so a $340 gas bill in the South becomes $1,700 up north. The fuel gap scales with it: in a very cold climate, heating with baseboard instead of gas costs about $2,500 more a year.
The heat pump column uses a seasonal efficiency (COP) of 2.5 in hot and mixed climates, 2.2 in cold and 2.0 in very cold, because heat pumps lose efficiency as the outdoor temperature drops. That's why they tie gas in milder places and fall behind it in the north at these prices.
Cost by House Size in a Mixed Climate
Mixed climates cover much of the Midwest, the Mid-Atlantic and the Mountain West. Annual heating cost by size:
| House size | Gas furnace | Heat pump | Propane | Heating oil | Electric baseboard |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 sq ft | $382 | $380 | $615 | $581 | $950 |
| 1,500 sq ft | $574 | $570 | $922 | $872 | $1,424 |
| 2,000 sq ft | $765 | $760 | $1,230 | $1,162 | $1,899 |
| 2,500 sq ft | $956 | $950 | $1,537 | $1,453 | $2,374 |
| 3,000 sq ft | $1,148 | $1,140 | $1,844 | $1,743 | $2,849 |
Cost rises in a straight line with floor area here, but real houses don't follow it exactly. A compact two-story loses less heat per square foot than a sprawling ranch, and a house built to a recent energy code can need far less heat than a 1960s house of the same size. Treat these as typical existing homes.
What a January Heating Bill Looks Like
Heating cost isn't spread evenly. In Chicago, January alone accounts for about 21% of a normal year's heating degree days (1,234 of 5,974, NOAA 1991–2020 normals), and November through March together account for about 81%. Applying that pattern to a 2,000 sq ft house:
| Climate | Gas furnace | Heat pump | Propane | Heating oil | Electric baseboard |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mixed Chicago, DC, Denver | $158 | $157 | $254 | $240 | $392 |
| Cold Boston, Hartford | $246 | $277 | $395 | $373 | $610 |
| Very cold Minneapolis, Buffalo | $351 | $436 | $564 | $533 | $872 |
These are heating only. If the same fuel also runs your water heater or stove, add that on top. They also assume a normal January. In Chicago, a January that averages 5°F colder than normal adds about 155 heating degree days, roughly 12% more heat.
Heating Cost Per Square Foot
To scale to any size, multiply your square footage by the figure for your climate and fuel:
| Climate | Gas furnace | Heat pump | Propane | Heating oil | Electric baseboard |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hot Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix | $0.17 | $0.17 | $0.27 | $0.26 | $0.42 |
| Mixed Chicago, DC, Denver | $0.38 | $0.38 | $0.61 | $0.58 | $0.95 |
| Cold Boston, Hartford | $0.60 | $0.67 | $0.96 | $0.90 | $1.48 |
| Very cold Minneapolis, Buffalo | $0.85 | $1.06 | $1.37 | $1.29 | $2.11 |
A 1,800 sq ft house heated by propane in a cold climate, for example: 1,800 × $0.96 ≈ $1,730 a year.
Local Prices Can Change the Winner
National averages hide big regional swings. Here is the same 2,000 sq ft house at typical regional prices (the presets in our heating cost calculator):
| Region | Gas furnace | Heat pump | Propane | Heating oil | Electric baseboard |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northeast (cold) | $1,365 | $1,865 | $2,525 | $1,831 | $4,103 |
| Midwest (cold) | $805 | $1,194 | $1,530 | $1,641 | $2,626 |
| South (mixed) | $720 | $633 | $1,402 | $1,131 | $1,583 |
| West (mixed) | $788 | $1,013 | $1,352 | $1,193 | $2,532 |
- South: cheap electricity (about 15¢) puts the heat pump ahead of gas.
- Northeast: expensive electricity (about 25¢) and propane ($3.30) push propane and baseboard heat far behind, and heating oil comes in slightly below a heat pump. Gas still wins wherever there's a line to the street.
- Midwest: cheap gas ($1.15 per therm) makes gas the clear winner, at about a third of the cost of baseboard heat.
Off the gas line, a pellet or wood stove is often the cheapest heat of all: at $350 a ton, pellets beat propane at $2.50 and oil at $3.80. The pellet and firewood cost calculator runs that comparison for your prices.
Why Your Bill Is Higher or Lower Than These
- Furnace efficiency. A 95% condensing furnace cuts the gas column by about 16%: the 2,000 sq ft mixed-climate house drops from $765 to about $645.
- Insulation and air leaks. These figures assume a typical existing home. A drafty older house can use considerably more; a tight, well-insulated one far less.
- Ceiling height. Nine- and ten-foot ceilings add roughly 6% and 12% to annual heating (the calculator adjusts for this).
- Thermostat. Every degree you set back over a full day saves around 1–3%. See our thermostat settings guide.
- Heat pump backup heat. If the electric strips kick in often, a heat pump bill can look more like the baseboard column. The aux heat calculator shows what they're costing. If your backup is a gas or propane furnace instead, the dual-fuel switchover calculator finds the cheapest temperature to hand off.
The fastest check is your own bill: last winter's therms, gallons or kWh, times this year's price. To compare fuels for your exact size, ceiling height, climate and local prices, run the heating cost by fuel calculator.