Should McAllen switch to a heat pump?

In McAllen, a heat pump is the cheaper choice, and not by a little. 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. McAllen's residents would see roughly $381 a year back in running costs, putting the payback around 2.6 years. That verdict holds specifically for McAllen's own climate and rates, not a national average.

McAllen's weather, in the numbers that matter

319 heating degree days pile up here every year, so McAllen barely has a winter to speak of; the cooling side runs to 4957 cooling degree days, where summers are severe enough that cooling can dominate the annual bill. 39°F is the figure equipment gets sized against here — the 99th-percentile cold snap, not an average day — with a record low of 27°F on file. Worked through the model, that's a seasonal COP of 3.36 on the standard unit fit for this climate. McAllen's winters don't get cold enough to need the cold-climate premium — a standard unit holds up fine. Climate figures trace to the nearest NOAA station, MC ALLEN MILLER INTL ARPT, 2.9 miles from McAllen.

The month-to-month numbers for McAllen

Modelled on a typical 2000-square-foot house, the heat pump draws about 240 kWh a year to keep it warm, plus cooling, for a combined electric bill near $721 a year. That compares with roughly 3 Mcf a year of gas at McAllen's 19.42 per-Mcf rate — about $1,102 a year — against a local electricity rate of 16.15¢/kWh. Buy it outright, not incrementally, and payback stretches to 28.9 years; over 15 years the net position sits $4,710 ahead.

The other scenario: no gas furnace to begin with

Plenty of homes in McAllen heat with electricity alone, no gas line involved. Compared with baseboard or electric-furnace resistance heat, the numbers shift in the heat pump’s favor. The saving here runs about $447 a year, which recovers the extra $5,500 spent going electric in roughly 12.3 years.

How McAllen compares nationally

Ranked against the other 3206 cities covered, McAllen comes in at 3113 for heating severity — 1 would be the coldest place in the dataset — and 186 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.

What to do with this number in McAllen

McAllen, Texas is home to about 148,782 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. Given the math above, McAllen is a place worth lining up quotes ahead of a breakdown, not waiting for one.

Ask a local HVAC contractor for a quote before committing either way.

More on how this number was built

Nothing above is a black box: the methodology guide shows the full arithmetic behind McAllen's 3.36 seasonal COP and payback figure. The $2,000 federal credit baked into McAllen's number is explained, with the before-and-after math, in the tax credit guide.