Wichita, KS: the heat pump payback math
In Wichita, the extra upfront cost technically comes back, just not before the equipment wears out. $3,500 is what Wichita would pay extra to go electric rather than replace the furnace and AC with the same again, once the $2,000 federal credit is applied. That premium is recovered through $174 of lower running costs every year, landing the payback clock at roughly 20.2 years. Wichita's own numbers say this pencils out only in theory, not in practice.
The climate behind Wichita's payback figure
3687 heating degree days pile up here every year, so Wichita has a real but manageable winter; the cooling side runs to 1879 cooling degree days, where summers are hot enough that cooling matters as much as heating. Sizing runs off the design temperature, not the average day: 0°F here (record low -4°F), which works out to a seasonal COP of 2.7 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, Wichita sits firmly in cold-climate territory, so that's the class of unit priced here. Climate figures trace to the nearest NOAA station, WICHITA EISENHOWER NATIONAL, 5.5 miles from Wichita.
What it actually costs to run, year to year
A 2000-square-foot house here would pull roughly 3,458 heating kilowatt-hours annually on top of cooling, totalling about $762 a year on electricity. Wichita's gas rate of 14.81 per Mcf, applied to the 38 Mcf a year the furnace burns, puts its running cost near $935 a year, against 15.05¢ per kWh for electricity. Priced as a standalone purchase rather than against a like-for-like replacement, equipment payback runs about 77.7 years, for a 15-year net position $895 behind.
Electric resistance heat in Wichita, compared
Not every home in Wichita 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. Switching saves about $1,010 a year here — a heat pump moving heat rather than generating it needs far less electricity than resistance coils — so the extra $8,000 spent up front comes back in about 7.9 years.
Wichita against the rest of the country
Wichita lands at position 1689 out of 3206 cities on heating severity (coldest is 1), and 52 out of 3206 by population size (biggest is 1). That's the middle third for winter severity among the cities covered here.
Next step for 400,991 people in Wichita
About 400,991 people live in Wichita, Kansas, 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 Wichita's figure comes from
Every constant behind this page — the 2.7 seasonal COP, the degree-day corrections, the equipment costs — is documented in the methodology guide. Wichita's 0°F design temperature falls on the cold side of the 25°F cutoff the cold-climate unit guide walks through.