Neosho, MO: the heat pump payback math
Neosho 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 $3,500 more up front here (already netting out a $2,000 tax credit). That premium is recovered through $226 of lower running costs every year, landing the payback clock at roughly 15.5 years. That's a technicality, not a recommendation, for anyone actually living in Neosho.
Neosho's weather, in the numbers that matter
Neosho has a real but manageable winter — 3186 heating degree days a year against a 65°F base — and summers are hot enough that cooling matters as much as heating, at 1427 cooling degree days. The 99% winter design temperature here — the cold snap equipment must be sized for, not the seasonal average — is 10.4°F, against a record low of -0.4°F. That puts the seasonal coefficient of performance at 2.95 for the recommended cold-climate unit. Neosho 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. Climate figures trace to the nearest NOAA station, MONETT MUNICIPAL AIRPORT, 20.2 miles from Neosho.
Neosho's running-cost comparison, in dollars
A 2000-square-foot house here would pull roughly 2,735 heating kilowatt-hours annually on top of cooling, totalling about $507 a year on electricity. Neosho's gas rate of 14.94 per Mcf, applied to the 33 Mcf a year the furnace burns, puts its running cost near $733 a year, against 12.83¢ per kWh for electricity. Looked at as a full purchase rather than an incremental one, payback here is roughly 59.7 years, leaving the 15-year total $109 behind.
Electric resistance heat in Neosho, compared
Gas isn't universal in Neosho — many houses run on electric heat already. Swap the comparison to resistance heat instead of gas, and Neosho's answer improves. About $765 a year comes back this way, enough that the 10.5-year payback clears the $8,000 premium comfortably within the equipment's life.
Neosho against the rest of the country
Ranked against the other 3206 cities covered, Neosho comes in at 1855 for heating severity — 1 would be the coldest place in the dataset — and 2550 by population, where 1 is largest. That's the middle third for winter severity among the cities covered here.
Next step for 13,782 people in Neosho
Neosho, Missouri is home to about 13,782 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. In Neosho, 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 Neosho's 2.95 seasonal COP and the rest of this page's numbers get built. Neosho's 10.4°F design temperature falls on the cold side of the 25°F cutoff the cold-climate unit guide walks through.