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- Residents of cities across the Midwest will be hardest hit by home heating costs this winter.
- A new study ranked US cities based on costs in relation to incomes, energy efficiency, and more.
- Springfield, Missouri and Cleveland, Ohio ranked first and second.
Heating your home will be particularly expensive this winter if you live in a slew Midwestern cities with three things in common: low temperatures, relatively low incomes, and poor energy-efficiency in homes.
That's according to a new study by HVAC Gnome, a company that links up HVAC specialists with customers. The study ranked heating expenses in the 500 biggest cities in the country based on several factors, including electricity and heating fuel costs relative to average income, home energy-efficiency, and things like weather and average home size and age.
The hardest-hit city is expected to be Springfield, Missouri, followed by Cleveland, Ohio, Independence, Missouri, Flint, Michigan, and St. Joseph, Missouri. The vast majority of the top 25 cities are in the Midwest. Cleveland and Flint have particularly energy inefficient homes, while Independence and St. Joseph ranked high on energy costs, the study reported.
While many Northeastern cities are as frigid in the winter months as their Midwestern counterparts, the region tends to have lower fuel cost to income ratios and more energy efficient homes, the study noted.
Meanwhile, the most affordable cities in the winter were found to be in Southern and Central California and the Puget Sound area in Washington State.
Of course, the summer is a totally different story. During the hot months, places like Florida and Georgia become the most unaffordable when it comes to HVAC costs, the study noted.
HVAC Gnome used data collected by a slew of sources, including the US Census Bureau, the Department of Energy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Green Building Information Gateway, and Redfin.