Heat Pump vs. AC in Fort Worth: Which Fits Your Home?

Heat Pump and Central Air, Line by Line

The ratings. SEER2 measures cooling over a season and HSPF2 measures heating over a season; a higher number means more cooling or heating per unit of electricity. Texas sits in the federal “Southeast” region, which is why a new split air conditioner here has a higher floor than the national 13.4 SEER2. A split heat pump carries the 14.3 SEER2 floor nationwide, plus the 7.5 HSPF2 heating floor.

The lifetimes. DOE’s figures are averages from a model calibrated on historical shipments, not a promise for any one unit. The heat pump comes in about three years shorter, and DOE ties part of a unit’s expected life to its operating hours: a heat pump’s compressor works through winter as well as summer. The same hours logic is why an air conditioner in Texas wears out sooner than one in a northern state.

The installed costs. These are the only primary-source installed cost figures we found, and they are DOE’s modeled averages for baseline equipment in 2015 dollars. The air conditioner figure covers the air conditioner alone, with no furnace. Read them as proof that a heat pump costs more than an air conditioner on its own, not as a 2026 price; we quote yours in writing after a visit.

What a Million Btu of Winter Heat Costs, Four Ways

To compare heating systems on equal terms, we priced the same amount of heat delivered into the house: one million Btu. The arithmetic uses Texas residential energy prices from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, EIA’s Btu conversion factors (3,412 Btu per kilowatt-hour, 1,036 Btu per cubic foot of natural gas) and the federal minimum ratings.

Against electric resistance heat, the heat pump wins clearly. At the minimum rating it delivers about 2.2 times as much heat per kilowatt-hour as heat strips over a rated season, and higher-rated models do better. Against gas it is close: a minimum-rated heat pump and a minimum-rated furnace land within about a dollar of each other, and a 95 percent furnace comes out a few dollars cheaper. Your own electric and gas rates decide it.

Treat the table as a way of thinking, not a bill forecast. Monthly gas prices swing hard (EIA’s Texas figure ran from $16.47 per thousand cubic feet in January 2026 to $34.30 in July), and HSPF2 is rated in a standardized federal test climate, not a Fort Worth winter. On the coldest nights, any supplemental electric heat runs at the cost in the second row. The cooling side does not change: a heat pump and an air conditioner with the same SEER2 rating cool for the same power.

Where Each Setup Usually Lands in a Fort Worth House

These are the setups we are asked about most. Every house differs, so treat each as the starting point for a quote, not a verdict.

Electric heat strips and an aging air conditioner

This is where a heat pump makes its strongest case. The cooling side costs the same, and the heating side moves from the $47 row of the running-cost table to the $21 row. If the outdoor unit is due for replacement anyway, the heat pump is the option to price first.

A newer gas furnace beside an older air conditioner

ENERGY STAR describes this exact case: put in a heat pump instead of a new air conditioner and keep the furnace, creating a dual-fuel system “for a modest extra cost over an AC system.” The heat pump handles mild winter days, the furnace takes the colder ones, and a furnace you already paid for stays in service.

Furnace and air conditioner both near the end

Here we price both paths: a heat pump with supplemental heat, against an air conditioner replacement paired with a new gas furnace. With gas and electric heat this close in cost, your own rates, your ducts and gas line, and the lifetimes in the first table usually decide it. If only the furnace is failing and the cooling side has years left, gas furnace repair can buy time to plan.

Rooms the ductwork never reached

An addition, a converted garage or an older home without ducts does not have to wait for a central system. ENERGY STAR notes that where running ductwork would be difficult, a heat pump can still heat and cool part of a house: a ductless mini-split heat pump mounts on an inside wall or ceiling and serves those rooms on its own.

Sizing, which is the same job for both

ENERGY STAR warns that a system too large or too small for its space “will struggle to meet your home comfort needs,” and says a contractor should verify the right size with a Manual J calculation, the method for working out how much heating and cooling a home needs. Whichever system you lean toward, we start with that load calculation: square footage, insulation, windows and ductwork.

What Fort Worth’s Homes and Winters Say About the Choice

Most Fort Worth homes already heat with electricity. In the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (2020 to 2024, table B25040), electricity is the main heating fuel in about 68 percent of the city’s 342,126 occupied homes and utility gas in about 30 percent, against about 61 and 35 percent statewide. The survey does not split heat pumps from heat strips, but for every one of those electric homes, the first two rows of the running-cost table are the comparison that matters.

Our winters are short, with a handful of hard nights. We counted NOAA’s daily lows at DFW Airport for the 30 winters from 1991-92 to 2020-21: about 29 freezing nights a winter, about 8 at 25 degrees or below, fewer than 3 at 20 or below (in 20 of the 30 winters), and 10 or below in only 2 winters, bottoming at minus 2 on February 16, 2021. ENERGY STAR advises homes where winters regularly dip below freezing to plan a heat pump with a backup heating system where it makes sense, so for homes from Haltom City out to Keller, the supplemental heat deserves its own line in any heat pump quote you compare.