Weston, FL: the heat pump payback math
In Weston, a heat pump is the cheaper choice, and not by a little. 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. Weston's residents would see roughly $359 a year back in running costs, putting the payback around 2.8 years. That verdict holds specifically for Weston's own climate and rates, not a national average.
How cold Weston actually gets
Degree days tell the story here: Weston racks up 54 heating degree days each year (base 65°F), and summers are severe enough that cooling can dominate the annual bill, with 5123 cooling degree days on the cooling side. 50°F is the figure equipment gets sized against here — the 99th-percentile cold snap, not an average day — with a record low of 48.9°F on file. Worked through the model, that's a seasonal COP of 3.69 on the standard unit fit for this climate. Weston's winters don't get cold enough to need the cold-climate premium — a standard unit holds up fine. Climate figures trace to the nearest NOAA station, NORTH PERRY AIRPORT, 12.2 miles from Weston.
The month-to-month numbers for Weston
Electricity use for heating alone comes out to about 37 kWh a year on the 2000-square-foot reference house; folding in cooling puts the electric bill near $680 a year. The gas furnace it replaces burns roughly 1 Mcf a year at 25.48 per Mcf here, for a running cost near $1,039 a year (electricity here runs 15.43¢/kWh). Priced as a standalone purchase rather than against a like-for-like replacement, equipment payback runs about 30.6 years, for a 15-year net position $4,386 ahead.
The other scenario: no gas furnace to begin with
Plenty of homes in Weston heat with electricity alone, no gas line involved. Swap the comparison to resistance heat instead of gas, and Weston's answer improves. The saving here runs about $366 a year, which recovers the extra $5,500 spent going electric in roughly 15 years.
Weston against the rest of the country
Weston lands at position 3182 out of 3206 cities on heating severity (coldest is 1), and 550 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 Weston
Weston, Florida is home to about 70,674 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, Weston is a place worth lining up quotes ahead of a breakdown, not waiting for one.
Line up a few local HVAC quotes before you decide.
More on how this number was built
Nothing above is a black box: the methodology guide shows the full arithmetic behind Weston's 3.69 seasonal COP and payback figure. The $2,000 federal credit baked into Weston's number is explained, with the before-and-after math, in the tax credit guide.