Natural gas prices by state, ranked

Source: EIA, August 2026; natural gas EIA 2025 annual average; degree-days NOAA 1991–2020 normals. Full dataset on the data page.

The gas price is the EIA's residential average for the year: total residential revenue divided by gas delivered, converted from thousand cubic feet to therms (one therm is 100,000 BTU, the unit on most gas bills). It includes the delivery charges spread over the gas sold, but your bill may also have a fixed monthly customer charge on top. For a few states the latest full year the EIA has published is 2024. The electricity rate is shown alongside because the comparison between the two is what decides most heating choices.

The five most expensive states are Hawaii ($5.05), Florida ($2.46), Massachusetts ($2.42), California ($2.12), Rhode Island ($2.09). The five cheapest are Idaho ($0.74), Montana ($0.87), North Dakota ($0.92), South Dakota ($0.95), New Mexico ($0.95).

Hawaii is a special case: it has no interstate pipeline, and most of its utility gas is produced on the islands from petroleum feedstock rather than piped in from gas fields. Leave Hawaii aside and the spread is still more than three to one.

What you pay per therm is two things: the gas itself and the cost of getting it to your house. The gas is a commodity traded at hubs with prices that differ less across the country than what homes pay. Most of the gap comes from delivery.

• Distance from supply. States close to production areas or major pipelines from Canada and the Rockies (Idaho, Montana, the Dakotas, Utah, New Mexico) pay the least. New England sits at the end of the pipeline network with limited capacity into the region.
• How much gas each home uses. Pipes, meters and service crews cost roughly the same whether a home burns a little gas or a lot. In cold states where homes heat with gas all winter, those fixed costs spread over many therms. In warm states where gas mostly runs a water heater and a stove, they spread over few, so the price per therm is higher. That's why Florida, Georgia and Texas sit near the top of the table despite Texas being one of the largest gas producers in the country.
• Utility and state policy. Pipe replacement programs, efficiency surcharges and how each state's regulators split costs between customers all end up in the rate.

So a high price per therm in a warm state doesn't always mean a high gas bill, because those homes use little gas. In a cold state, even a cheap therm adds up over a winter.

The fair way to compare heating fuels is cost per million BTU of heat delivered to the house (MMBtu), after the equipment's efficiency.

• Gas furnace at 92% efficiency: 10.87 therms per MMBtu of heat.
• Electric resistance (baseboard, electric furnace): 293 kWh per MMBtu.
• Heat pump: 293 kWh divided by its seasonal COP. Our calculators use a COP of 3.1 in mild climate zone 3, 2.5 in cold zone 5 and 2.0 in very cold zone 7.

Gas vs resistance heat: gas costs less per unit of heat in all 50 states and DC with current prices. Resistance heat turns each kWh into exactly one kWh of heat, and a kWh is the expensive way to buy BTUs nearly everywhere.

Gas vs a heat pump is closer. With our data, a heat pump costs less per MMBtu than a 92% gas furnace in 16 states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas and Washington. They're mostly warm states with pricey gas and moderate electricity. In the cold north, cheap gas and a lower winter COP keep the furnace ahead on running cost.

Worked example: Illinois vs Georgia. A 2,000 sq ft house with average insulation.

• In Illinois (6,200 heating degree-days, gas $1.08, electricity 19.3¢/kWh), the house needs about 104 MMBtu of heat a year. A gas furnace burns about 1,132 therms: $1,222.56. A heat pump at COP 2.5 uses about 12,200 kWh: $2,359.17. Gas wins.
• In Georgia (2,800 heating degree-days, gas $1.97, electricity 15.9¢/kWh), the same house needs about 47 MMBtu. The furnace burns about 511 therms: $1,006.67. A heat pump at COP 3.1 uses about 4,450 kWh: $707.07. The heat pump wins.

A quick test for your state. Multiply your gas price per therm by the break-even factor for your climate: about 11.5 in a mild climate (COP 3.1), 9.3 in a cold one (COP 2.5), 7.4 in a very cold one (COP 2.0). The answer is the electricity rate, in cents per kWh, below which a heat pump costs less to run than a 92% gas furnace. In Illinois, $1.08 × 9.3 lands well under the actual 19.3¢/kWh, so gas wins. In Georgia, $1.97 × 11.5 lands above 15.9¢/kWh, so the heat pump wins.

Running cost isn't the whole decision. A heat pump also replaces the air conditioner, and the furnace-plus-AC versus heat-pump price difference can swing the payback either way. The heat pump vs furnace calculator and the heat pump payback calculator handle both.

Water heating is easier to call. A family of four uses about 64 gallons of hot water a day, heated about 70 °F. With the efficiencies our tankless vs tank calculator uses, that takes a year:

Water heater	Energy per year	US average	Illinois	Florida
Gas tank (0.62 UEF)	about 220 therms	$325.60	$237.60	$541.20
Electric tank (0.92 UEF)	about 4,345 kWh	$789.05	$839.45	$651.32
Heat pump water heater (3.5 UEF)	about 1,140 kWh	$207.39	$220.63	$171.19

With current prices, a gas tank costs less to run than an electric tank in every state. A heat pump water heater costs less than a gas tank in every state except Alaska and Michigan, where gas is cheap and electricity is not. The catch is the higher upfront price of a heat pump unit; the heat pump water heater calculator works out the payback against an electric tank.

• Your real price per therm. Divide the bill's total, minus the fixed customer charge, by the therms used. Some bills show CCF (100 cubic feet) instead; one CCF is about 1.04 therms.
• The fixed charge. If you're thinking of going all-electric, the gas customer charge you would stop paying is part of the savings, even in summer when you use almost no gas.
• Monthly swings. The table is a yearly average. Your price per therm moves month to month with wholesale gas and with how much you use against the fixed delivery costs, so a single bill can sit well above or below it.

• Gas vs electric heat: yearly heating cost with your state's gas and electricity prices.
• Heat pump vs gas furnace: running cost by climate zone.
• Tankless vs tank water heater: five water heater types priced for your state.
• Furnace size: the furnace your house needs at your state's design temperature.

For the electricity side of the comparison, see electricity cost by state.