How much fuel does a house use?

In Pennsylvania, a typical 2,000 sq ft house needs about 484 gallons of heating oil or 733 gallons of propane in a normal winter, and roughly a fifth of that in January alone.

Estimates for an average existing house: 5 Btu per sq ft per heating degree day, furnace efficiency 85% (oil, propane) and 90% (gas). Hot water and cooking are not included.

Why propane takes more gallons than oil

A gallon of propane carries 91,452 Btu; a gallon of heating oil 138,500. To deliver the same heat, a house burns about 1.51 gallons of propane for every gallon of oil. That is also why comparing the two by price per gallon is misleading.

Scale it to your house

Usage grows in proportion to floor area and to how leaky the house is. A 1,500 sq ft house needs about three quarters of the figures below; a drafty older house can need 40% more, a tight newer one 30% less. For a house-specific number, use the winter heating cost calculator, or divide last year’s delivery tickets by last winter’s degree days.

Normal-winter use, 2,000 sq ft house


Alabama	2,669	227	343	297	84
Arizona	1,919	163	247	213	58
Arkansas	3,393	288	436	377	102
California	2,814	239	362	313	65
Colorado	7,052	599	907	784	151
Connecticut	5,848	497	752	650	147
Delaware	4,483	381	577	498	122
District of Columbia	4,565	388	587	507	125
Florida	645	55	83	72	27
Georgia	2,807	238	361	312	85
Idaho	6,870	584	884	763	150
Illinois	6,105	519	785	678	163
Indiana	5,626	478	724	625	151
Iowa	6,821	579	877	758	181
Kansas	4,877	414	627	542	136
Kentucky	4,396	373	566	488	123
Louisiana	1,652	140	213	184	59
Maine	7,760	659	998	862	182
Maryland	4,565	388	587	507	125
Massachusetts	6,134	521	789	682	151
Michigan	6,746	573	868	750	166
Minnesota	8,534	725	1,098	948	213
Mississippi	2,388	203	307	265	77
Missouri	4,981	423	641	553	140
Montana	8,548	726	1,100	950	168
Nebraska	6,281	534	808	698	163
Nevada	3,452	293	444	384	89
New Hampshire	7,449	633	958	828	177
New Jersey	5,169	439	665	574	135
New Mexico	4,462	379	574	496	114
New York	6,000	510	772	667	150
North Carolina	3,359	285	432	373	97
North Dakota	9,185	780	1,182	1,021	220
Ohio	5,688	483	732	632	148
Oklahoma	3,535	300	455	393	107
Oregon	5,268	447	678	585	102
Pennsylvania	5,700	484	733	633	145
Rhode Island	5,761	489	741	640	143
South Carolina	2,587	220	333	287	81
South Dakota	7,635	649	982	848	185
Tennessee	3,753	319	483	417	108
Texas	1,820	155	234	202	63
Utah	6,978	593	898	775	152
Vermont	8,060	685	1,037	896	188
Virginia	4,259	362	548	473	116
Washington	5,610	477	722	623	109
West Virginia	5,067	430	652	563	132
Wisconsin	7,529	640	969	837	187
Wyoming	8,225	699	1,058	914	168

Degree days: NOAA nClimDiv statewide heating degree days, 1991–2020 average, population-weighted. District of Columbia uses Maryland’s.