Home Heating Cost Calculator
Firewood, propane, heating oil, natural gas, electric heat and heat pumps compared as the cost of heat delivered into your home, at this week’s prices in your state.
Step 1
What’s your situation?
Not heating? Electricity costs, bills and power stations → · Solar →
Is this firewood a good price?
Your stove and your other heat
Your tank
Where, when and how much you use
Which heat is cheapest where you live?
Use your own prices
Your heat now
The heat pump
Your heat
Propane and heating oil prices by state
- Alabama $3.69
- Arkansas $2.56
- Colorado $2.44
- Connecticut $4.45
- Delaware $3.94
- Florida $5.15
- Georgia $3.36
- Idaho $2.90
- Illinois $2.00
- Indiana $2.72
- Iowa $1.86
- Kansas $2.26
- Kentucky $2.90
- Maine $3.69
- Maryland $3.93
- Massachusetts $3.81
- Michigan $2.53
- Minnesota $2.20
- Mississippi $3.17
- Missouri $2.31
- Montana $2.28
- Nebraska $1.90
- New Hampshire $3.96
- New Jersey $4.14
- New York $3.84
- North Carolina $3.74
- North Dakota $1.84
- Ohio $2.81
- Oklahoma $2.46
- Pennsylvania $3.31
- Rhode Island $4.14
- South Dakota $2.02
- Tennessee $3.35
- Texas $3.22
- Utah $2.60
- Vermont $3.94
- Virginia $3.86
- Wisconsin $2.17
Propane prices by state → · Heating oil prices by state →
Firewood
FAQ
Which heating fuel is cheapest?
Per million Btu of heat delivered in the U.S. on average, with older systems at the federal minimum efficiency: natural gas $18.82, heat pump $24.25–$26.26, propane $38.54, electric resistance $53.31, heating oil $53.39 (oil and propane EIA week of November 2, 2026, before tax). Without a gas line, the cheapest is heat pump. Your state can differ a lot; pick it above.
How do you compare heating fuels?
Divide the price by the heat in one unit (EIA: propane 91,452 Btu a gallon, heating oil 138,500, electricity 3,412 Btu a kWh), multiply by 1,000,000, then divide by the system’s efficiency. That gives the cost of a million Btu of heat delivered into the house, the same unit for every fuel.
How much should I pay for a cord of wood?
There is no official firewood price, so we don’t show a typical one. Enter the price you were quoted and the tool shows what its heat costs, and the most a cord is worth against the oil, propane, gas or electricity you’d otherwise use.
Why is the heat pump a range?
A heat pump’s efficiency falls as it gets colder. The low end uses its rated seasonal efficiency (HSPF2 ÷ 3.412); the high end assumes the median ENERGY STAR heat pump’s efficiency at 5 °F (COP 2.03) all winter.
Sources and assumptions
- Heating oil and propane: EIA weekly residential propane prices and heating oil prices, week of November 2, 2026 (released 11/4/2026; next 11/12/2026). EIA: “Price in dollars per gallon, excluding taxes.” “Weekly heating oil and propane prices are only collected during the heating season, which extends from October through March.” We show the 38 states EIA surveys weekly for propane and the 21 for heating oil; we don’t claim to cover every state.
- Natural gas: EIA residential natural gas prices (heating-season average of the monthly prices, October 2025–March 2026, where EIA published at least 4 of the 6 months; otherwise the annual average), converted with each state’s heat content of natural gas (Btu per cubic foot, 2025). Summer months are never used.
- Electricity: EIA Electric Power Monthly, average residential price year-to-date average through August 2026.
- Heat content: EIA: “Electricity 1 kilowatthour=3,412 Btu Natural gas 1 cubic foot=1,036 Btu 1 therm=100,000 Btu Motor gasoline 1 gallon=120,214 Btu Diesel fuel 1 gallon=137,381 Btu Heating oil 1 gallon=138,500 Btu Propane 1 gallon=91,452 Btu Wood 1 cord=20,000,000 Btu” Cost per million Btu follows EIA FAQ 987: “[ (Fuel price per unit) divided by (fuel heat content per unit) ] multiplied by 1,000,000”, divided by the system’s efficiency.
- Efficiency: older systems at the federal minimum (10 CFR 430.32: gas and propane furnaces 80.0% AFUE, oil furnaces 83.0%, split heat pumps HSPF2 7.5); new systems at the ENERGY STAR median (certified furnaces: gas/propane 96%, oil 87%; certified heat pumps: HSPF2 8.5, cold-climate 9.0). Heat pumps are shown as a range down to the median COP at 5 °F (2.03, 283,737 certified systems). Wood stoves: EPA certified wood heater database (2020 rule, 417 models, lab-tested HHV efficiency medians: non-catalytic 71%, catalytic 78%, hybrid 78%).
- Firewood: Utah State University Extension, Wood Heating, Table 1 (million Btu per cord of air-dried wood); ranking cross-checked against Indiana DNR, Heating With Firewood. Cord sizes from Indiana DNR: “A standard cord is a stack of wood 4 x 4 x 8 feet.” “A face cord of 16" pieces is actually one third of a standard cord.”
- Typical winter: EIA RECS 2020 microdata (space-heating use of homes heated mainly by each fuel, by EIA climate region), and EIA’s Winter Fuels Outlook heating degree days for the month-by-month split.