Heat Pump Payback in La Marque, TX
Heat pump vs. gas furnace in La Marque, TX
This one's marginal in La Marque: it only clears if you stay long enough. Swap a failed furnace and AC for a heat pump rather than buying like-for-like, and the extra cost here runs $3,000. La Marque's residents would see roughly $329 a year back in running costs, putting the payback around 9.1 years. Whether that's worth it in La Marque depends on how many years you expect to own the place.
Not the city you meant?
This runs the same numbers for 3206 US cities, not just La Marque. Look one up here.
The climate behind La Marque's payback figure
La Marque barely has a winter to speak of, 630 heating degree days a year against a 65°F base, and summers are severe enough that cooling can dominate the annual bill, at 3937 cooling degree days. The 99% winter design temperature here, the cold snap equipment must be sized for, not the seasonal average, is 34.3°F, and the coldest daily reading in the 2024 station record was 22.1°F. That puts the seasonal coefficient of performance at 3.22 for the recommended standard unit. A standard ducted system is enough here; La Marque's design temperature doesn't justify the cold-climate premium. Source: NOAA station Eagle Point, 8.8 miles from La Marque, the closest one on record.
What it actually costs to run, year to year
Modelled on a typical 2000-square-foot house, the heat pump draws about 495 kWh a year to keep it warm, plus cooling, for a combined electric bill near $622 a year. The gas furnace it replaces burns roughly 7 Mcf a year at $19.42 per Mcf here, for a running cost near $951 a year including the old AC (electricity here runs 16.15¢/kWh). If the current system still worked and you replaced it anyway, the full cost would take longer than the 15-year equipment life to earn back; against buying a new furnace and AC regardless, the 15-year total lands $1,940 ahead.
How sensitive La Marque's result is to prices
Because the heat pump's better air conditioning saves more electricity than its heating uses, it stays cheaper to run than the current furnace and AC in La Marque at any electricity price. When quotes arrive, compare the heat pump price with a like-for-like furnace and AC replacement: at $329 a year saved, a difference under $2,303 pays back within 7 years here, and under $3,290 within 10.
Electric resistance heat in La Marque, compared
Plenty of homes in La Marque heat with electricity alone, no gas line involved. Against electric-resistance heat, baseboard or an electric furnace, both 100% efficient but still just resistance, the case for switching gets stronger here. Even against resistance heat, the running-cost gap here isn't enough to clear the $7,500 incremental cost within the equipment's 15-year life.
How La Marque compares nationally
Ranked against the other 3206 cities covered, La Marque comes in at 3019 for heating severity, 1 would be the coldest place in the dataset, and 1904 by population, where 1 is largest. That's the mildest third of cities covered, where utility rates carry more of the answer than climate does.
Next step if you live in La Marque
About 20,194 people live in La Marque, 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, there's no cost penalty to waiting until your current furnace or AC actually needs replacing.
Get quotes from local HVAC contractors before deciding.
Reading further on this page's numbers
Nothing above is a black box: the methodology guide shows the full arithmetic behind La Marque's 3.22 seasonal COP and payback figure. Not every home in La Marque has gas; the guide comparing a heat pump against electric baseboard covers that case separately.