Heat Pump Payback in McComb, MS
McComb, MS: the heat pump payback math
McComb technically pencils out, but only past the point the equipment would need replacing anyway. Against a like-for-like gas furnace and AC swap, going electric costs $5,500 more up front here. Lower bills claw that back: about $253 saved annually, for a payback of roughly 21.8 years. McComb's own numbers say this pencils out only in theory, not in practice.
Not the city you meant?
McComb is one of 3206 cities covered here, each run through the same model. Search another below.
The climate behind McComb's payback figure
Degree days tell the story here: McComb racks up 1651 heating degree days each year (base 65°F), and summers are hot enough that cooling matters as much as heating, with 2414 cooling degree days on the cooling side. 23°F is the figure equipment gets sized against here, the 99th-percentile cold snap, not an average day, with a low of 12°F in the 2024 station record. Worked through the model, that's a seasonal COP of 3.25 on the cold-climate unit fit for this climate. The average winter here is gentle, but sizing follows the cold snaps, and 23°F is below the 25°F point where a standard unit leans on resistance backup, so a cold-climate unit is what gets priced for McComb. Climate figures trace to the nearest NOAA station, McOm/Pike Co/J E Lws Fd AP, 4.2 miles from McComb.
What it actually costs to run, year to year
Electricity use for heating alone comes out to about 1,286 kWh a year on the 2000-square-foot reference house; folding in cooling puts the electric bill near $517 a year. McComb's gas rate of $16.64 per Mcf, applied to the 17 Mcf a year the furnace burns, puts the current furnace-and-AC running cost near $770 a year, against 15.47¢ per kWh for electricity. 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 $1,710 behind.
How sensitive McComb's result is to prices
This result holds unless electricity climbs above 132.4¢/kWh (it is 15.47¢ now) or gas drops below $1.94 per Mcf (now $16.64); past either point, gas becomes the cheaper fuel in McComb. When quotes arrive, compare the heat pump price with a like-for-like furnace and AC replacement: at $253 a year saved, a difference under $1,771 pays back within 7 years here, and under $2,530 within 10.
If your home heats with electric baseboard instead of gas
Plenty of homes in McComb 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 $10,000 incremental cost within the equipment's 15-year life.
Where McComb ranks in this dataset
McComb lands at position 2622 out of 3206 cities on heating severity (coldest is 1), and 2848 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 McComb
About 11,762 people live in McComb, Mississippi, 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.
Line up a few local HVAC quotes before you decide.
Where McComb's figure comes from
Every constant behind this page, the 3.25 seasonal COP, the degree-day corrections, the equipment costs, is documented in the methodology guide. McComb's 23°F design temperature is below the 25°F line, which is why a cold-climate unit is the right call here, see what that changes in the cold-climate unit guide.