Heat Pump Payback in South Jordan, UT
Is a heat pump worth it in South Jordan?
In South Jordan, the extra upfront cost technically comes back, just not before the equipment wears out. Against a like-for-like gas furnace and AC swap, going electric costs $5,500 more up front here. That premium is recovered through $110 of lower running costs every year, landing the payback clock at roughly 50.2 years. South Jordan's own numbers say this pencils out only in theory, not in practice.
Compare against another city
Landed on South Jordan by mistake, or want to compare it against somewhere else? Search the other 3206 cities below.
The climate behind South Jordan's payback figure
Degree days tell the story here: South Jordan racks up 4667 heating degree days each year (base 65°F), and summers are hot enough that cooling matters as much as heating, with 1804 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 19°F, and the coldest daily reading in the 2024 station record was 12.2°F. That puts the seasonal coefficient of performance at 3.16 for the recommended cold-climate unit. South Jordan 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 Salt Lake City International, the closest NOAA station, 15.5 miles out.
South Jordan's running-cost comparison, in dollars
Modelled on a typical 2000-square-foot house, the heat pump draws about 3,740 kWh a year to keep it warm, plus cooling, for a combined electric bill near $692 a year. South Jordan's gas rate of $10.19 per Mcf, applied to the 49 Mcf a year the furnace burns, puts the current furnace-and-AC running cost near $802 a year, against 13.12¢ 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 $3,856 behind.
What would change South Jordan's answer
This result holds unless electricity climbs above 16.8¢/kWh (it is 13.12¢ now) or gas drops below $7.94 per Mcf (now $10.19); past either point, gas becomes the cheaper fuel in South Jordan. When quotes arrive, compare the heat pump price with a like-for-like furnace and AC replacement: at $110 a year saved, a difference under $770 pays back within 7 years here, and under $1,100 within 10.
Electric resistance heat in South Jordan, compared
Plenty of homes in South Jordan heat with electricity alone, no gas line involved. Swap the comparison to resistance heat instead of gas, and South Jordan's answer improves. The saving here runs about $1,165 a year, which recovers the extra $10,000 spent going electric in roughly 8.6 years.
How South Jordan compares nationally
Among 3206 cities, South Jordan's winter puts it at rank 1024 for severity, while its size puts it at rank 419 for population, 1 in both cases being the extreme. That's the coldest third of the dataset, where climate does most of the work behind this figure.
Deciding what's next in South Jordan, UT
About 86,156 people live in South Jordan, Utah, 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.
Get quotes from local HVAC contractors before deciding.
Where South Jordan's figure comes from
Nothing above is a black box: the methodology guide shows the full arithmetic behind South Jordan's 3.16 seasonal COP and payback figure. South Jordan's 19°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.