Heat Pump Payback in La Porte, TX
La Porte, TX: the heat pump payback math
In La Porte, the math is close enough that it comes down to how long you plan to stay. Against a like-for-like gas furnace and AC swap, going electric costs $3,000 more up front here. La Porte's residents would see roughly $300 a year back in running costs, putting the payback around 10 years. It's a genuine toss-up here, La Porte's numbers don't point clearly either way.
Not the city you meant?
La Porte is one of 3206 cities covered here, each run through the same model. Search another below.
How cold La Porte actually gets
853 heating degree days pile up here every year, so La Porte barely has a winter to speak of; the cooling side runs to 3321 cooling degree days, where summers are severe enough that cooling can dominate the annual bill. The 99% winter design temperature here, the cold snap equipment must be sized for, not the seasonal average, is 32°F, and the coldest daily reading in the 2024 station record was 21.4°F. That puts the seasonal coefficient of performance at 3.15 for the recommended standard unit. La Porte's winters don't get cold enough to need the cold-climate premium, a standard unit holds up fine. Source: NOAA station Morgans Point, 4.2 miles from La Porte, the closest one on record.
La Porte's running-cost comparison, in dollars
Modelled on a typical 2000-square-foot house, the heat pump draws about 686 kWh a year to keep it warm, plus cooling, for a combined electric bill near $568 a year. The gas furnace it replaces burns roughly 9 Mcf a year at $19.42 per Mcf here, for a running cost near $868 a year including the old AC (electricity here runs 16.15¢/kWh). Priced as a standalone purchase, with a working furnace ripped out early, payback would take longer than the 15-year equipment life. Measured against the like-for-like replacement instead, a household here ends 15 years $1,494 ahead.
How sensitive La Porte's result is to prices
In La Porte the cooling savings outweigh the extra electricity for heating, so no plausible change in the electricity rate would make the old furnace and AC cheaper to run. A useful quote test for La Porte: the heat pump is worth it within a decade if it costs less than $3,000 more than replacing the furnace and AC, and within 7 years if the gap is under $2,100.
If your home heats with electric baseboard instead of gas
Not every home in La Porte has gas service. Swap the comparison to resistance heat instead of gas, and La Porte's answer improves. The gap still doesn't close: the $7,500 incremental cost outlasts the 15-year equipment life here even against resistance heat.
Where La Porte ranks in this dataset
La Porte lands at position 2948 out of 3206 cities on heating severity (coldest is 1), and 1092 out of 3206 by population size (biggest is 1). 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 Porte
La Porte, Texas is home to about 38,046 people, and the figures above are the same ones a local HVAC contractor uses to size and quote a system, this site doesn't guess where a real quote would land, it just tells you whether it's worth asking for one. In La Porte, nothing is lost by holding off until the current equipment genuinely fails.
Ask a local HVAC contractor for a quote before committing either way.
Reading further on this page's numbers
The methodology guide walks through exactly how La Porte's 3.15 seasonal COP and the rest of this page's numbers get built. Homes in La Porte without gas service should read the electric-resistance comparison instead, the numbers there differ from the gas case above.