Will a heat pump pay off in Spokane, WA?
Spokane sits right on the fence — how long you'll own the house decides this one. 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. Spokane's residents would see roughly $311 a year back in running costs, putting the payback around 11.3 years. Whether that's worth it in Spokane depends on how many years you expect to own the place.
Why Spokane's climate drives this number
5519 heating degree days pile up here every year, so Spokane has a cold winter that leans hard on heating equipment; the cooling side runs to 804 cooling degree days, where summers add a moderate cooling load. Sizing runs off the design temperature, not the average day: -2°F here (record low -8°F), which works out to a seasonal COP of 2.65 for the cold-climate class of unit this climate calls for. Below the 25°F line where a standard machine starts leaning on resistance backup, Spokane sits firmly in cold-climate territory, so that's the class of unit priced here. Climate figures trace to the nearest NOAA station, FELTS FIELD AIRPORT, 5.3 miles from Spokane.
The month-to-month numbers for Spokane
Modelled on a typical 2000-square-foot house, the heat pump draws about 5,274 kWh a year to keep it warm, plus cooling, for a combined electric bill near $850 a year. Spokane's gas rate of 17.62 per Mcf, applied to the 57 Mcf a year the furnace burns, puts its running cost near $1,161 a year, against 14.27¢ per kWh for electricity. Looked at as a full purchase rather than an incremental one, payback here is roughly 43.4 years, leaving the 15-year total $1,167 ahead.
Electric resistance heat in Spokane, compared
Not every home in Spokane 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. About $1,293 a year comes back this way, enough that the 6.2-year payback clears the $8,000 premium comfortably within the equipment's life.
How Spokane compares nationally
Spokane lands at position 361 out of 3206 cities on heating severity (coldest is 1), and 101 out of 3206 by population size (biggest is 1). That's the coldest third of the dataset, where climate does most of the work behind this figure.
Next step for 230,609 people in Spokane
About 230,609 people live in Spokane, Washington, 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.
Ask a local HVAC contractor for a quote before committing either way.
More on how this number was built
Nothing above is a black box: the methodology guide shows the full arithmetic behind Spokane's 2.65 seasonal COP and payback figure. Spokane's -2°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.