Brownwood, TX: the heat pump payback math
Brownwood clears a genuine payback here, inside a reasonable stretch of years. Swap a failed furnace and AC for a heat pump rather than buying like-for-like, and the extra cost here runs $1,000 after a $2,000 federal tax credit. That premium is recovered through $282 of lower running costs every year, landing the payback clock at roughly 3.5 years. That's a real payback, built from Brownwood's own climate and utility rates, not a national guess.
Why Brownwood's climate drives this number
Degree days tell the story here: Brownwood racks up 916 heating degree days each year (base 65°F), and summers are severe enough that cooling can dominate the annual bill, with 2994 cooling degree days on the cooling side. The 99% winter design temperature here — the cold snap equipment must be sized for, not the seasonal average — is 33.1°F, against a record low of 31.1°F. That puts the seasonal coefficient of performance at 3.19 for the recommended standard unit. A standard ducted system is enough here; Brownwood's design temperature doesn't justify the cold-climate premium. Climate figures trace to the nearest NOAA station, COMANCHE COUNTY-CITY AIRPORT, 26.2 miles from Brownwood.
What it actually costs to run, year to year
Electricity use for heating alone comes out to about 727 kWh a year on the 2000-square-foot reference house; folding in cooling puts the electric bill near $530 a year. Brownwood's gas rate of 19.42 per Mcf, applied to the 10 Mcf a year the furnace burns, puts its running cost near $812 a year, against 16.15¢ per kWh for electricity. Priced as a standalone purchase rather than against a like-for-like replacement, equipment payback runs about 39 years, for a 15-year net position $3,233 ahead.
The other scenario: no gas furnace to begin with
Not every home in Brownwood has gas service. Against electric-resistance heat — baseboard or an electric furnace, both 100% efficient but still just resistance — the case for switching gets stronger here. The saving here runs about $472 a year, which recovers the extra $5,500 spent going electric in roughly 11.7 years.
Brownwood against the rest of the country
Among 3206 cities, Brownwood's winter puts it at rank 2938 for severity, while its size puts it at rank 2028 for population — 1 in both cases being the extreme. That's the mildest third of cities covered, where utility rates carry more of the answer than climate does.
Next step for 18,772 people in Brownwood
About 18,772 people live in Brownwood, Texas, and every number on this page is what a contractor would actually work from when quoting a system here — the point isn't to replace that quote, it's to tell you whether to bother asking for one. Here, it's worth getting quotes before your current system fails, not after.
Ask a local HVAC contractor for a quote before committing either way.
Where Brownwood's figure comes from
The methodology guide walks through exactly how Brownwood's 3.19 seasonal COP and the rest of this page's numbers get built. See what Brownwood's figure looks like without the $2,000 federal credit in the guide to how that credit moves the payback window.