Should Mustang switch to a heat pump?
In Mustang, the extra upfront cost technically comes back, just not before the equipment wears out. Swap a failed furnace and AC for a heat pump rather than buying like-for-like, and the extra cost here runs $3,500 after a $2,000 federal tax credit. Lower bills claw that back: about $207 saved annually, for a payback of roughly 16.9 years. Mustang's own numbers say this pencils out only in theory, not in practice.
Why Mustang's climate drives this number
Mustang has a mild winter by US standards — 2933 heating degree days a year against a 65°F base — and summers are hot enough that cooling matters as much as heating, at 2206 cooling degree days. 3.9°F is the figure equipment gets sized against here — the 99th-percentile cold snap, not an average day — with a record low of 1°F on file. Worked through the model, that's a seasonal COP of 2.79 on the cold-climate unit fit for this climate. Mustang needs the cold-climate class of unit: past a 25°F design temperature a standard heat pump falls back on resistance backup often enough to eat the savings. These numbers come from WILL ROGERS WORLD AIRPORT, the closest NOAA station, 7 miles out.
Mustang's running-cost comparison, in dollars
Modelled on a typical 2000-square-foot house, the heat pump draws about 2,662 kWh a year to keep it warm, plus cooling, for a combined electric bill near $595 a year. The gas furnace it replaces burns roughly 31 Mcf a year at 13.99 per Mcf here, for a running cost near $802 a year (electricity here runs 13.10¢/kWh). Buy it outright, not incrementally, and payback stretches to 65.3 years; over 15 years the net position sits $399 behind.
Electric resistance heat in Mustang, compared
Gas isn't universal in Mustang — many houses run on electric heat already. Against electric-resistance heat — baseboard or an electric furnace, both 100% efficient but still just resistance — the case for switching gets stronger here. The saving here runs about $752 a year, which recovers the extra $8,000 spent going electric in roughly 10.6 years.
How Mustang compares nationally
Mustang lands at position 1951 out of 3206 cities on heating severity (coldest is 1), and 1663 out of 3206 by population size (biggest is 1). That's the middle third for winter severity among the cities covered here.
Next step for 23,965 people in Mustang
About 23,965 people live in Mustang, Oklahoma, 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 Mustang's figure comes from
Every constant behind this page — the 2.79 seasonal COP, the degree-day corrections, the equipment costs — is documented in the methodology guide. Mustang's 3.9°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.