Gas vs Electric Heating Cost in Massachusetts
In Massachusetts, a 2,000 sq ft house with average insulation costs an estimated $2,563.10 a year to heat with a 92% gas furnace, $8,704.49 with electric resistance heat and $3,481.80 with a heat pump. In Massachusetts, the gas furnace beats the heat pump on running cost by an estimated $918.70 a year.
State data
What Massachusetts pays
- Electricity
- 30.5¢/kWhEIA Electric Power Monthly, table 5.6.A · EIA, August 2026 (data as of 2026-10-25)
- Natural gas
- $2.42/thermEIA, residential natural gas price ($/Mcf ÷ 10.37) · EIA 2025 annual average (data as of 2026-10-25)
- Heating degree-days
- 5,800 °F-days (base 65 °F)NOAA CPC, 1991–2020 normals
- Climate zone
- 5 (IECC 2021)DOE/PNNL · heat pump seasonal COP used: 2.5
Electricity in Massachusetts costs 30.5¢/kWh, 68% above the US average of 18.2¢/kWh; every electric option on this page pays that price per kWh. At $2.42/therm, Massachusetts is in the $2-and-up band for residential gas on this site, 64% above the US average of $1.48/therm. Massachusetts logs 5,800 heating degree-days a year (NOAA normals), 29% more than the US average of 4,500.
Prices are statewide averages. Type the rate and gas price from your own bill into the calculator above to replace them.
How homes here heat
How homes in Massachusetts heat
- Main heating fuel
- Natural gas 53% · electricity 17% · propane 3% · fuel oil 24%EIA RECS 2020, state tables · share of homes
- Main heating equipment
- Furnace 55% · central heat pump 2% · boiler 26%EIA RECS 2020, state tables · share of homes
- Homes using a secondary heater
- 42%EIA RECS 2020, state tables
- Household energy spend
- $2,453 a year, of which $859 on space heating (35%)EIA RECS 2020, state tables · average per household
- Share of home energy that is space heating
- 69% of natural gas use · 10% of electricity useEIA RECS 2020, state tables
Massachusetts is one of the few states where fuel oil is a major heating fuel. In the 2020 survey, 53% of homes named natural gas as their main heating fuel, close to the US figure of 51%, but 24% (about 650,000) burned fuel oil, against 4% nationally: the 6th-highest share among the 14 states that report it. Electricity is the main fuel in only 17% of homes, against 34% for the US, and propane in 3%.
The equipment follows the fuel. 26% of homes heat with a boiler, against 8% nationally, and 55% with a furnace. Central heat pumps are in 2% of homes (about 50,000), against 13% for the US, the lowest share of the 33 states that report it.
Heating is also what drives the bill. A household spends $2,453 a year on home energy, the 5th-highest of any state, and $859 of it, 35%, on space heating, against $519 and 26% nationally. That is the 7th-highest heating spend in the country, about $72 a month averaged over the year, and heating takes 69% of the gas homes here burn.
EIA RECS 2020, state tables: shares of all occupied homes in the state and average spending per household in the survey year. "Not reported" means EIA's sample was too small to publish a figure.
Gas vs electric heat
B04Scenario A
Sets the electricity rate. Pick US average if you're not sure.
From EIA for Massachusetts. Use the rate on your bill if you know it.
Rate used: 30.5¢/kWh · Massachusetts · EIA, August 2026 · gas $2.42/therm (EIA 2025 annual) · 5,800 heating degree-days · climate zone 5 (data as of 2026-10-25) ·
On the furnace label: 0.80 older, 0.90–0.98 condensing.
Gas furnace costs less per year by
Electric resistance: $8,704.49 a year · Gas furnace: $2,563.10 a year, for 97.4 MMBtu of heat.
- Yearly heating load
- 97.4 MMBtu
- Electric resistance, $ per MMBtu
- $89.33
- Gas furnace, $ per MMBtu
- $26.30
- Electric resistance, per year
- $8,704.49
- Gas furnace, per year
- $2,563.10
- Difference per year (Gas furnace − Electric resistance)
- −$6,141.39
- Seasonal heat pump COP used
- 2.5
- Prices used
- electricity 30.5¢/kWh · gas $2.42/therm · propane $3.60/gal · oil $3.80/gal
- Heat pump, per year (for reference)
- $3,481.80
Cost by month, in season only
The yearly cost spread across the months using a typical heating degree-day pattern from NOAA 1991–2020 normals. Months outside the season show $0.
Estimate. Formula and sources are under “How it works”. Change any input; the result updates as you type.
2026 note: The federal 25C and 25D tax credits ended for installations after Dec 31, 2025. Our numbers use 2026 rules. State rebates, HEAR/HOMES programs and utility programs may still apply.
Worked example
Worked example: 2,000 sq ft in Massachusetts
A 2,000 sq ft house with average insulation in Massachusetts needs about 97.4 MMBtu of heat a year (5,800 heating degree-days). At $2.42/therm in a 92% furnace, gas delivers that heat at $26.30 per MMBtu; resistance heat at 30.5¢/kWh costs $89.33, and a heat pump at seasonal COP 2.5 (zone 5) costs $35.73. The year comes to $2,563.10 on gas, $8,704.49 on resistance heat and $3,481.80 on a heat pump. A heat pump would need electricity near 22.4¢/kWh to match gas here.
Load = sq ft × 0.35 × heating degree-days × 24 ÷ 1,000,000. Gas $/MMBtu = $/therm ÷ 0.1 ÷ 0.92. Resistance $/MMBtu = $/kWh × 293.07. Heat pump = resistance ÷ COP.
What the numbers say
What the numbers say in Massachusetts
Both fuels the calculator compares are expensive in Massachusetts. Gas costs $2.42/therm, the 3rd-highest price in the country, and electricity 30.5¢/kWh, the 3rd-highest. At those prices the estimate favors gas for the example house, and by a margin that is large in dollars: a heat pump would only tie with a 92% furnace at an electricity rate of 22.4¢/kWh, against a state average of 30.5¢/kWh.
The winter makes that margin count. With 5,800 heating degree-days, 29% more than the US average of 4,500, the house needs 97.4 MMBtu of heat a year, and in climate zone 5 the calculator uses a seasonal COP of 2.5, lower than a milder state would get. A long season multiplies every cent of difference between the two fuels, which is why the yearly gap here is so much larger than in states with the same rates and a short winter.
For many homes in Massachusetts, though, gas against a heat pump is not the question at all. 24% of them burn oil and 3% burn propane, and this calculator does not price either; the heat pump vs propane or oil page does, with your own price per gallon. Homes with a boiler also face a different install than homes with ducts, so the running cost is only one line of the decision. Homes on electric resistance pay the most of all: resistance costs 3.4 times as much as gas per unit of heat at these rates.
The survey's $859 averages every home, apartments included, so it sits below the calculator's figure for one 2,000 sq ft house. Before you compare, type the rate from your own bill into the calculator above, including any lower rate your utility offers for heat pumps. With heat this large a slice of the bill, the cheapest kilowatt-hour or therm is the one you do not use: the attic insulation and thermostat setback pages put a number on that.
Questions
FAQ
Which is cheaper in Massachusetts, gas or electric heat?
Electric resistance heat is the most expensive of the three in Massachusetts: $8,704.49 a year for the 2,000 sq ft example, $6,141.39 more than gas. Between gas ($2,563.10) and a heat pump ($3,481.80), gas costs less to run in Massachusetts, by an estimated $918.70 a year. These are estimates at 30.5¢/kWh and $2.42/therm; your bill's prices can change the answer.
How much gas does a furnace use in Massachusetts?
About 1,059 therms a year for a 2,000 sq ft house with average insulation and a 92% furnace, at Massachusetts's 5,800 heating degree-days. That averages 88 therms a month over 12 months, but almost all of it is burned in the heating months. At $2.42/therm, the year costs an estimated $2,563.10.
Electric furnace vs gas furnace cost in Massachusetts?
An electric furnace is resistance heat: every kWh gives 3,412 BTU. At 30.5¢/kWh, that heat costs $89.33 per MMBtu in Massachusetts, against $26.30 from a 92% gas furnace at $2.42/therm, 3.4 times as much. For the 2,000 sq ft example that's $8,704.49 a year against $2,563.10.
Is a heat pump cheaper than gas heat in Massachusetts?
Not at the average prices. The estimate favors gas by $918.70 a year for the example house, and the heat pump catches up only at an electricity rate of 22.4¢/kWh, while the state average is 30.5¢/kWh. A rate discount for heat-pump customers, if your utility offers one, is the number to try in the calculator above. Against oil or electric resistance, the comparison is different.
I heat with oil in Massachusetts. Does this page apply to me?
Only in part. 24% of homes in Massachusetts heat with fuel oil, the 6th-highest share in the survey, and this calculator compares gas, resistance and a heat pump. Use the heat pump vs propane or oil page with the price per gallon from your last delivery and the electricity rate from your bill, 30.5¢/kWh on average here.
Bordering states
Nearby states
Same calculator, same house, each state's own prices and winter:
Related