Heat pump vs. gas furnace in San Benito, TX
A heat pump earns back its extra cost in San Benito within a sensible timeframe. 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. That premium is recovered through $325 of lower running costs every year, landing the payback clock at roughly 3.1 years. The window here is reasonable, and it's specific to what San Benito actually pays for power and gas.
How cold San Benito actually gets
Degree days tell the story here: San Benito racks up 402 heating degree days each year (base 65°F), and summers are severe enough that cooling can dominate the annual bill, with 4101 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 37°F, against a record low of 25°F. That puts the seasonal coefficient of performance at 3.3 for the recommended standard unit. San Benito's winters don't get cold enough to need the cold-climate premium — a standard unit holds up fine. These numbers come from VALLEY INTERNATIONAL ARPT, the closest NOAA station, 6.8 miles out.
What it actually costs to run, year to year
A 2000-square-foot house here would pull roughly 308 heating kilowatt-hours annually on top of cooling, totalling about $615 a year on electricity. The gas furnace it replaces burns roughly 4 Mcf a year at 19.42 per Mcf here, for a running cost near $940 a year (electricity here runs 16.15¢/kWh). Looked at as a full purchase rather than an incremental one, payback here is roughly 33.8 years, leaving the 15-year total $3,877 ahead.
If your home heats with electric baseboard instead of gas
Not every home in San Benito has gas service. 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 $408 a year, which recovers the extra $5,500 spent going electric in roughly 13.5 years.
San Benito against the rest of the country
San Benito lands at position 3082 out of 3206 cities on heating severity (coldest is 1), and 1626 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.
What to do with this number in San Benito
San Benito, Texas is home to about 24,712 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, San Benito is a place worth lining up quotes ahead of a breakdown, not waiting for one.
Get quotes from local HVAC contractors before deciding.
Where San Benito's figure comes from
The methodology guide walks through exactly how San Benito's 3.3 seasonal COP and the rest of this page's numbers get built. The $2,000 federal credit baked into San Benito's number is explained, with the before-and-after math, in the tax credit guide.