Heat pump vs. gas furnace in Mission, KS
Mission technically pencils out, but only past the point the equipment would need replacing anyway. $3,500 is what Mission would pay extra to go electric rather than replace the furnace and AC with the same again, once the $2,000 federal credit is applied. Lower bills claw that back: about $159 saved annually, for a payback of roughly 22.1 years. That's a technicality, not a recommendation, for anyone actually living in Mission.
Mission's weather, in the numbers that matter
Degree days tell the story here: Mission racks up 3750 heating degree days each year (base 65°F), and summers are hot enough that cooling matters as much as heating, with 1852 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 -2.9°F, against a record low of -9°F. That puts the seasonal coefficient of performance at 2.63 for the recommended cold-climate unit. A cold-climate unit is the right call in Mission — below 25°F design temperature, a standard heat pump leans hard on electric-resistance backup, which erases most of the savings. Source: NOAA station C.R. WHEELER DOWNTOWN ARPT, 7.3 miles from Mission — the closest one on record.
Mission's running-cost comparison, in dollars
Modelled on a typical 2000-square-foot house, the heat pump draws about 3,610 kWh a year to keep it warm, plus cooling, for a combined electric bill near $781 a year. That compares with roughly 39 Mcf a year of gas at Mission's 14.81 per-Mcf rate — about $940 a year — against a local electricity rate of 15.05¢/kWh. Priced as a standalone purchase rather than against a like-for-like replacement, equipment payback runs about 85.1 years, for a 15-year net position $1,121 behind.
If your home heats with electric baseboard instead of gas
Plenty of homes in Mission 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. About $1,009 a year comes back this way, enough that the 7.9-year payback clears the $8,000 premium comfortably within the equipment's life.
Mission against the rest of the country
Mission lands at position 1653 out of 3206 cities on heating severity (coldest is 1), and 3204 out of 3206 by population size (biggest is 1). That's the middle third for winter severity among the cities covered here.
What to do with this number in Mission
Mission, Kansas is home to about 10,013 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 Mission, nothing is lost by holding off until the current equipment genuinely fails.
Line up a few local HVAC quotes before you decide.
More on how this number was built
Nothing above is a black box: the methodology guide shows the full arithmetic behind Mission's 2.63 seasonal COP and payback figure. Mission's -2.9°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.