Home heating in the United States varies sharply by region, housing type, fuel access and weather. The measures below distinguish household adoption from energy consumption, total energy bills from heating costs, and observed survey results from historical forecasts.
Key Home Heating Statistics
The most useful headline figures include:
- In 2020, 52% of average U.S. household annual energy consumption went to space heating and air conditioning combined.
- In 2020, 13% of U.S. households used a heat pump as their main heating equipment.
- In 2020, three-quarters of U.S. homes used two or more energy sources across household end uses.
- In 2020, 70% of Midwest households used natural gas for space heating.
- In 2020, 35% of South households used natural gas for space heating.
- In October 2024, natural gas was the primary space-heating fuel in 45% of U.S. homes.
- In October 2024, electricity was the primary space-heating fuel in 43% of U.S. homes.
- From 2019 to 2024, the share of U.S. homes using electricity as their main heating fuel rose from 39% to 43%.
- In 2021, about 18% of Northeast households used heating oil for space heating.
- In 2017, 98.9% of U.S. homes reported some form of home-heating equipment.
- In 2017, 72% of South Atlantic homes used electricity for heating.
- In 2017, 74% of East North Central homes used gas for heating, with the AHS gas category including natural gas and propane.
- In 2020, West homes using fuel oil or kerosene as their main heating fuel averaged $2,876 in total household energy expenditures.
- In 2020, West homes using electricity as their main heating fuel averaged $1,432 in total household energy expenditures.
- EIA forecast $1,734 in average heating-oil household spending for October 2021–March 2022, 43% above the prior winter.
- On October 8, 2021, Northeast distillate inventories were 25.8 million barrels, 33% below the previous five-year average for that week.
- In the AEO cooler case, 2050 heating degree days were projected 23%–30% higher than in 2021 in selected heating-dominated divisions.
- In the AEO reference case, fossil-fuel consumption in those heating-dominated divisions was projected 2%–10% lower in 2050 than in 2021.
Contents
- Household energy use and the role of heating
- Regional home heating fuel data
- Electric, gas, oil, propane and wood heating trends
- Heating equipment, building age and housing type
- Home heating costs and winter demand
- Home heating outlooks under weather scenarios
Household Energy Use and Home Heating Statistics
The Energy Information Administration’s 2020 residential estimates show why heating statistics need carefully defined denominators. Space heating and air conditioning together represented 52% of average annual household energy consumption, but that figure does not isolate space heating.
The same EIA source estimates the 2020 U.S. residential end-use energy mix as follows:
| Energy source | Share of residential end-use energy | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Retail electricity | 44% | All residential electricity end uses |
| Natural gas | 43% | Residential-sector end-use energy |
| Petroleum | 8% | Includes heating oil, kerosene and LPG |
| Renewable sources | 5% | Includes geothermal, solar and wood fuels |
These are residential-sector energy shares, not shares of homes using each fuel for space heating. EIA, Use of energy in homes also estimates that natural gas was used in 58% of U.S. homes in 2020, while a separate RECS survey estimate puts use of natural gas for at least one end use at 61%.
Other 2020 household measures add context without being heating-only measures. Approximately 13% of households used a heat pump as their main heating equipment, and three-quarters of homes used at least two energy sources across all end uses.
Housing form also matters: a detached single-family household consumed nearly three times as much total energy as a household in an apartment building with five or more apartments. These figures include all household energy, not heating alone.
Regional Home Heating Fuel Data Across the United States
Climate, infrastructure and local housing patterns produce large regional differences. In 2020, natural gas was used for space heating by 70% of Midwest households, 60% of West households and 35% of South households.
| Region or state | Natural gas for space heating, 2020 | Natural gas for water heating, 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Midwest | 70% | 60% |
| West | 60% | 64% |
| South | 35% | 31% |
The water-heating column is a separate end use and should not be read as a space-heating statistic. The South had the lowest regional share for natural-gas water heating, at 31%, while the Midwest and West each had an estimated 74% of households using natural gas for at least one end use. EIA, The majority of U.S. households used natural gas in 2020
State and urban measures show how access and actual use differ. Utah had 90% of households using natural gas for at least one end use, while Florida and Hawaii each had 16%; 91% of U.S. households using natural gas were located in urban areas.
Access did not always lead to use: 12% of U.S. households reported access to natural gas but did not use it for any end use in 2020. These are self-reported RECS measures and are not limited to heating.
Electric, Natural-Gas, Oil, Propane and Wood Heating Trends
EIA’s October 2024 winter-fuels estimate places natural gas and electricity close together as primary heating fuels. Natural gas was the main space-heating fuel in 45% of U.S. homes, while electricity was the main fuel in 43%.
Electric heating’s share rose from 39% to 43% over the five years ending in 2024. More than one in four homes in the South used electricity as its main heating fuel in October 2024. EIA, Short-Term Energy Outlook: Winter Fuels Outlook
Heating oil remains more concentrated geographically. EIA estimated that about 4% of U.S. households used heating oil as their primary space-heating fuel in 2021, compared with about 18% of Northeast households.
The Northeast share had fallen from about 27% to 18% over the approximately ten years before the 2021 winter outlook. These are rounded EIA comparisons of primary heating-fuel use, not total fuel consumption. EIA, U.S. consumers expected to spend more for heating oil this upcoming winter
The 2017 American Housing Survey provides a broader division-level comparison. Its gas category includes natural gas and propane, while “other fuels” includes oil, wood, kerosene and other fuels.
| Census division | Electricity | Gas | Other fuels | No heating fuel |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New England | 17% | 43% | 40% | 1% |
| Middle Atlantic | 20% | 59% | 23% | 0% |
| East North Central | 22% | 74% | 4% | 0% |
| West North Central | 30% | 67% | 3% | 0% |
| South Atlantic | 72% | 23% | 4% | 1% |
| East South Central | 66% | 31% | 2% | 1% |
| West South Central | 67% | 31% | 1% | 1% |
| Mountain | 39% | 57% | 4% | 0% |
| Pacific | 39% | 53% | 4% | 4% |
The AHS includes occupied and vacant homes, so these 2017 figures are not directly interchangeable with occupied-household RECS estimates. U.S. Census Bureau and HUD, Differences in Fuel Usage in the United States Housing Stock
Home Heating Equipment, Building Age and Housing Type
In the 2017 AHS, 98.9% of U.S. homes reported having some form of home-heating equipment. The measure covers primary heating equipment and includes occupied and vacant homes; survey universes can differ.
Construction age is associated with different heating patterns in the supplied AHS data. Among homes built from 1920 to 1929, 37.6% used electricity for heating and 55.7% used natural gas, while among homes built from 2000 to 2009, 54.5% used electricity and 36.3% used natural gas.
These are survey percentages for primary heating systems in the named construction cohorts, not efficiency ratings or equipment performance measures. They also should not be interpreted as a causal effect of building age.
Home Heating Costs, Fuel Consumption and Winter Demand
Regional expenditure data show that a household’s total energy bill is not the same as its heating bill. In the 2020 RECS West table, 27.72 million occupied housing units were represented, excluding vacant, seasonal, second homes, military housing and group quarters.
| Main heating fuel or category | Average total energy expenditure per household, 2020 |
|---|---|
| All West homes | $1,653 |
| Natural gas | $1,759 |
| Electricity | $1,432 |
| Fuel oil or kerosene | $2,876 |
| Propane | $2,752 |
| Wood | $1,611 |
| No heating equipment | $1,277 |
The values cover all listed household energy uses, not heating alone. Biomass treatment differs from purchased fuels, some cells are qualified or unavailable, and the “no heating equipment” category does not prove that no space heating occurred. EIA, 2020 RECS Table CE4.20
Winter oil data illustrate how forecasts should be labeled. For October 2021 through March 2022, EIA forecast average heating-oil household spending of $1,734, 43% above the prior winter, and an average price of $3.39 per gallon, 33% higher than the prior winter.
The same historical outlook forecast U.S. home-heating-oil demand at 390,000 barrels per day. On October 8, 2021, observed Northeast distillate inventories were 25.8 million barrels, 33% below the previous five-year average for that week; distillate includes heating oil and diesel. EIA, U.S. consumers expected to spend more for heating oil this upcoming winter
Home Heating Outlook Statistics Under Weather Scenarios
EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook weather cases separate modeled weather effects from observed household outcomes. In the 10-year-trend case, heating degree days were projected to increase through 2050 in New England, Middle Atlantic and West North Central divisions.
In the cooler case, 2050 heating degree days in New England, Middle Atlantic, East North Central and West North Central were projected to be 23%–30% higher than in 2021. In those same heating-dominated divisions, modeled fossil-fuel consumption was 13%–34% higher than 2021 in the cooler case, but 2%–10% lower in the 2050 reference case.
The projections combine residential and commercial consumption, so they are not household-only heating forecasts. EIA, Annual Energy Outlook: Weather cases and regional results
The South provides a different weather and end-use context. In 2021, electricity represented 62%–66% of all residential and commercial building energy consumption in the West South Central, East South Central and South Atlantic divisions.
In the warmer case, cooling degree days in those South divisions were projected to be 65%–70% higher in 2050 than in 2021, while electricity consumption was projected 26%–49% higher; the reference case projected a 21%–38% increase. These are modeled building-sector results and include all end uses, not heating alone.
Fuel patterns can also differ by commercial end use. In New England commercial buildings, 2021 space-heating consumption was 55% distillate fuel oil and 42% natural gas in the AEO reference case, while natural gas represented 12% of commercial space-cooling consumption in Middle Atlantic, compared with 1%–5% in other census divisions.