Home Heating Cost in Maryland (2027): Natural Gas vs Oil vs Electric
Heating costs for your home size in Maryland
Below, a typical Maryland house is heated five ways. Current average prices for each fuel feed the same seasonal load model our heating cost calculator uses (Climate Region #3, mid-efficiency equipment), so the numbers compare like for like.
The spread is wide: about $1,930 a winter with natural gas versus about $6,230 with electric baseboard heat, for one 2,200 sq. ft. home in Maryland. That $4,310 difference comes from the fuel alone.
Maryland Heating Fuel Costs for One Season
| Fuel & equipment | Price | Season use | Cost / season |
|---|---|---|---|
| Natural gasnatural gas boiler, 82 AFUE | $1.88per therm | 1,024therms | ~$1,930 |
| Electric heat pumpductless, ~2.9 COP | $0.261per kWh | 8,481kWh | ~$2,220 |
| Propanepropane boiler, 82 AFUE | $3.80per gal | 1,118gals | ~$4,260 |
| Heating oiloil boiler, 82 AFUE | $6.11per gal | 738gals | ~$4,510 |
| Electric baseboardresistance heat | $0.261per kWh | 23,856kWh | ~$6,230 |
Each row is one heating season for 2,200 sq. ft., rounded up to $10. Switch the insulation level to see how much the house itself moves the bill. Method: our heating cost calculator.
A Season of Heat, Fuel by Fuel
Same house, same winter, five fuels. Hover a bar for the use and the rate behind it.
Season = the modeled Maryland heating load on standard mid-efficiency equipment; fuels ranked like the heating cost calculator (pellet and wood stoves are manual-load and stay unranked).
10-Year Heating Cost Outlook for Maryland
This chart carries the season costs forward 10 winters. Electricity follows its Maryland track record, about 1.95% a year (2013 to 2023, energy database). Natural gas, heating oil and propane have no long series in our data, so they get two clear cases rather than an invented rate. Hover or tap a column for that winter's costs.
Winter 1 uses today's rates and later winters apply the trend, all at average insulation; every total is rounded up to the next $10.
Fossil fuels flat, electricity on its trend: the cheapest 10-winter total is natural gas at about $19,230; the most expensive is electric baseboard heat at about $68,020.
Maryland Climate and Your Heating Load
Region #3 covers the in-between states, and Maryland is one of them. Average winter days reach about 43°F; nights fall to about 25°F. A moderate load means the gap between fuels is smaller in dollars than it is up north.
What the local weather means for heating equipment:
Hard freezes. If the heat fails during a deep freeze, water pipes can split within hours. Book the tune-up before the first cold snap, and consider a freeze alarm or a thermostat that sends alerts.
Damp cold. Moist air near freezing frosts a heat pump's outdoor coil, so the unit pauses to defrost now and then. That is normal; a model with demand-based defrost wastes less energy doing it.
Sea spray. Salt carried on the wind eats at outdoor coils and cabinet screws. A coated coil, a site away from the spray and a yearly rinse keep a coastal heat pump running longer.
With both a heating and a cooling season, spring and fall are the quiet times for installers. Replacing heating and cooling together often saves on labor.
Three Things That Change the Number
- Walls and attic. Insulation moves the load about 12% between average and poor, and the same between average and well insulated. That is roughly $230 a season with natural gas here.
- Burner efficiency. The table assumes a mid-efficiency boiler at 82 AFUE. A condensing unit at 93 AFUE burns less fuel for the same heat, about $230 a season less on natural gas here. An old 62 AFUE unit burns about $630 more.
- Ductwork. Bare ducts lose about 17% of a furnace's heat in the calculator's duct model. Sealing and insulating them recovers most of it. Boilers and ductless heat pumps have no such loss.
Heat Pump vs. Electric Baseboard in Maryland
Both electric rows use the same $0.261 per kWh rate. The difference is the machine: resistance heat converts power to heat one for one, while a heat pump gets about 2.9 units of heat per unit of power here. The result is about $2,220 a season instead of $6,230. Here it ranks second, behind natural gas.
Maryland Heating: Quick Answers
What is the cheapest way to heat a home in Maryland?
At current rates the winner is natural gas, about $1,930 a season for this house; a heat pump follows at about $2,220. That assumes the home is on a natural gas main.
Should a Maryland home on heating oil convert?
On fuel cost, yes. Heating oil runs about $4,510 a season for this house; natural gas would cost about $1,930. Over 10 winters at today's prices that gap is about $25,870: the budget a conversion has to beat. That option needs natural gas service at the street.
How much does insulation change the heating bill here?
Using natural gas, poor insulation pushes this 2,200 sq. ft. house to about $2,160 a season, and good insulation brings it down to about $1,700. The difference, about $470, comes back every winter.
Wood and pellet stoves are not ranked here because someone has to load them. The pellet stove calculator prices them on their own.
Fine print: estimates, not bills. The fuel prices are Maryland averages and the heat load is modeled, so treat the figures as a fair comparison of fuels rather than a forecast of your statement.
