Heat Pump Payback in Wichita Falls, TX
Will a heat pump pay off in Wichita Falls, TX?
In Wichita Falls, the extra upfront cost technically comes back, just not before the equipment wears out. Swap a failed furnace and AC for a heat pump rather than buying like-for-like, and the extra cost here runs $5,500. Wichita Falls's residents would see roughly $364 a year back in running costs, putting the payback around 15.1 years. That's a technicality, not a recommendation, for anyone actually living in Wichita Falls.
Compare against another city
Wichita Falls is one of 3206 cities covered here, each run through the same model. Search another below.
How cold Wichita Falls actually gets
2237 heating degree days pile up here every year, so Wichita Falls has a mild winter by US standards; the cooling side runs to 2981 cooling degree days, where summers are severe enough that cooling can dominate the annual bill. Sizing runs off the design temperature, not the average day: 13.6°F here (coldest 2024 reading 6.8°F), which works out to a seasonal COP of 3.03 for the cold-climate class of unit this climate calls for. Mild on average, but the occasional cold snap is what sizes the equipment: at a 13.6°F design temperature Wichita Falls falls just under the 25°F line where a standard heat pump starts leaning on resistance backup, so the model prices a cold-climate unit to be safe. Climate figures trace to the nearest NOAA station, Kickapoo Downtown Airport, 4.6 miles from Wichita Falls.
The yearly running costs in Wichita Falls
A 2000-square-foot house here would pull roughly 1,869 heating kilowatt-hours annually on top of cooling, totalling about $712 a year on electricity. That compares with roughly 23 Mcf a year of gas at Wichita Falls's $19.42 per-Mcf rate, about $1,076 a year with the old AC included, against a local electricity rate of 16.15¢/kWh. If the current system still worked and you replaced it anyway, the full cost would take longer than the 15-year equipment life to earn back; against buying a new furnace and AC regardless, the 15-year total lands $40 behind.
What would change Wichita Falls's answer
Gas would only overtake the heat pump in Wichita Falls if electricity rose past 82.6¢/kWh from 16.15¢, or gas fell under $3.80 per Mcf from $19.42. A useful quote test for Wichita Falls: the heat pump is worth it within a decade if it costs less than $3,640 more than replacing the furnace and AC, and within 7 years if the gap is under $2,548.
If your home heats with electric baseboard instead of gas
Plenty of homes in Wichita Falls heat with electricity alone, no gas line involved. Compared with baseboard or electric-furnace resistance heat, the numbers shift in the heat pump’s favor. About $826 a year comes back this way, enough that the 12.1-year payback clears the $10,000 premium comfortably within the equipment's life.
Wichita Falls against the rest of the country
Among 3206 cities, Wichita Falls's winter puts it at rank 2313 for severity, while its size puts it at rank 329 for population, 1 in both cases being the extreme. That's the mildest third of cities covered, where utility rates carry more of the answer than climate does.
Next step if you live in Wichita Falls
Wichita Falls, Texas is home to about 102,372 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 Wichita Falls, nothing is lost by holding off until the current equipment genuinely fails.
Get quotes from local HVAC contractors before deciding.
More on how this number was built
Every constant behind this page, the 3.03 seasonal COP, the degree-day corrections, the equipment costs, is documented in the methodology guide. At a 13.6°F design temperature, Wichita Falls sits in cold-climate territory; the guide to that class of unit explains why.