Contents
- Home energy efficiency upgrades statistics: homeowner participation and project costs
- Home energy efficiency upgrades statistics: insulation and air-sealing savings by climate zone
- Home energy efficiency upgrades statistics: heat-pump water heaters and smart thermostats
- Home energy efficiency upgrades statistics: attic insulation and sealing results
- Home energy efficiency upgrades statistics: Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program results
- home energy efficiency upgrades: HOMES rebate thresholds and maximum amounts for home efficiency upgrades
- Sources
Home energy efficiency upgrades statistics: homeowner participation and project costs
Home energy efficiency upgrades statistics cover different kinds of evidence: homeowner reports, project spending, modeled savings, program outcomes and rebate limits. Keeping those measures distinct helps put each number in context. For example, participation figures describe homeowners who reported improvements during a period, while medians describe spending on selected projects. Neither tells us how much energy an individual home saved.
The U.S. Census Bureau’s 2023 Home Improvements Infographic reports that 51.6 million homeowners made home improvements from 2021–2023, representing 59%. Within that broader group, 14.7 million homeowners made energy-efficiency improvements, reported as 28%. The 51.6 million figure is the broader home-improvement count, not the denominator for calculating the energy-efficiency share; the infographic reports each count and percentage in its own terms. These are retrospective participation figures for 2021–2023, not a count of upgrades completed in 2023 alone. Source: 2023 Home Improvements Infographic
The infographic also provides expenditure medians for selected home-improvement categories during 2021–2023. Its values are rounded to the nearest $100. These figures show reported project-cost context, not expected savings or the price of every project.
| Selected project category | Median expenditure |
|---|---|
| HVAC | $5,500 |
| Doors/windows | $2,800 |
| Water heater, dishwasher or garbage disposal | $800 |
| All home improvements | $6,500 |
The $800 category combines water heaters with dishwashers and garbage disposals, so it cannot be read as a water-heater-only median. Similarly, the $6,500 median covers all home improvements rather than energy upgrades alone. Source: 2023 Home Improvements Infographic
Home energy efficiency upgrades statistics: insulation and air-sealing savings by climate zone
ENERGY STAR’s methodology reports EPA estimates for modeled home sealing and insulation. The annual utility-bill savings vary by climate zone and by what is counted: the total house or heating and cooling only. The table below preserves those two scopes. It is a modeled estimate, not a set of measured household outcomes, and the source does not specify a publication period for the table.
| Location and climate zone | Total-house utility-bill savings | Heating and cooling utility-bill savings |
|---|---|---|
| North, CZ 8 | 16% | 18% |
| North, CZ 7 | 15% | 19% |
| North, CZ 6 | 14% | 18% |
| North, CZ 5 | 12% | 16% |
| North, CZ 4C | 13% | 20% |
| North, CZ 4 | 12% | 17% |
| South, CZ 3 | 8% | 14% |
| South, CZ 2 | 6% | 9% |
| South, CZ 1 | 5% | 7% |
| National average | 11% | 15% |
In every listed location, the estimated percentage for heating and cooling alone is higher than the total-house percentage. The denominator differs: the first measure is limited to those end uses, while the other covers the modeled home’s utility bills. The table does not provide dollar amounts, and its estimates should not be presented as a guaranteed bill reduction for a particular home. Source: ENERGY STAR, Methodology for Estimated Energy Savings
The underlying scenario also assumes air sealing achieves a 25% reduction in total air infiltration in a “typical” existing U.S. home. That percentage is a model assumption used in estimating savings, not a measured result that every participating home will attain. Actual conditions are not specified by this assumption alone. Source: ENERGY STAR, Methodology for Estimated Energy Savings
Home energy efficiency upgrades statistics: heat-pump water heaters and smart thermostats
ENERGY STAR’s 2024 preliminary analysis uses ResStock modeling to estimate savings across climate zones and states. These are modeled results, not observations from households after installation. The report presents energy-use savings separately from energy-bill savings, and the two percentages should not be treated as interchangeable.
For the full ENERGY STAR Home Upgrade bundle, the reported national average is 57% savings on energy use and 31% savings on energy bills. Across modeled locations, the bundle’s energy-bill savings range from 13% to 39%, while energy-use savings range from 26% to 67%. These averages and ranges describe the bundle under the report’s modeling; they do not predict an individual home’s result. Source: ENERGY STAR, The Power of the ENERGY STAR Home Upgrade: Savings Analysis Preliminary Results, p. 25
The individual-measure estimates offer a more specific view of heat-pump water heaters and smart thermostats:
| Modeled measure | National-average energy-use savings | National-average energy-bill savings | Reported range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heat-pump water heater | 7% | 4% | Energy use: 3%–15%; bills: 3%–9% |
| Smart thermostat | 4% | 4% | 2%–5% for energy use and bills |
For the smart thermostat, the report states a 4% national average on both energy use and bills and a 2%–5% range. For the heat-pump water heater, the reported averages differ: 7% for energy use and 4% for bills, with separate ranges for each measure. These modeled percentages apply to the report’s analysis and should not be read as guaranteed savings for a home adding only that equipment. Source: ENERGY STAR, The Power of the ENERGY STAR Home Upgrade: Savings Analysis Preliminary Results, pp. 29–30
Home energy efficiency upgrades statistics: attic insulation and sealing results
The same preliminary ResStock analysis reports attic insulation and attic sealing as separate measures. In the modeled results, attic insulation averages 4% savings on energy use and 3% on energy bills nationally. The energy-use range is 2%–6%, while the energy-bill range is 2%–5%.
For attic sealing, the reported national averages are 5% for energy use and 4% for energy bills. Its modeled range is 2%–7% for both measures. These figures are measure-specific outputs in the report, not field measurements or a promise that the measures will yield those savings in every house. Source: ENERGY STAR, The Power of the ENERGY STAR Home Upgrade: Savings Analysis Preliminary Results, p. 31
| Modeled attic measure | Energy-use savings: national average (range) | Energy-bill savings: national average (range) |
|---|---|---|
| Attic insulation | 4% (2%–6%) | 3% (2%–5%) |
| Attic sealing | 5% (2%–7%) | 4% (2%–7%) |
The report’s ranges capture variation across modeled locations; they do not identify which value applies to a specific home. The distinction between insulation and sealing also matters: the source presents them as separate individual measures, so their percentages should not be added together to estimate combined savings. Source: ENERGY STAR, The Power of the ENERGY STAR Home Upgrade: Savings Analysis Preliminary Results, p. 31
Home energy efficiency upgrades statistics: Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program results
Home Performance with ENERGY STAR’s 2020 progress update reports participating-program outcomes for that year. It records 72,891 projects completed, including more than 41,000 income-qualified projects. These are program counts, not a national estimate of all home-efficiency work.
The update reports $36 million in total savings and an average savings of $500 per home in 2020. It also lists an average invoice of $5,243 per home, explicitly including homeowner cost plus incentives, and sponsor budgets of $66 million. Those financial measures describe different parts of the program and should not be combined into a project payback estimate. Source: Home Performance with ENERGY STAR Progress Update, p. 2
The same 2020 results report 1.8 million MMBtu of annual energy savings and 124,355 metric tons of CO2 avoided annually. The energy and emissions figures are annual impacts reported in the program update, while the project count and financial measures refer to the program’s 2020 results. They do not describe the measured effect of a typical home or establish that every project achieved the same outcome. Source: Home Performance with ENERGY STAR Progress Update, p. 2
home energy efficiency upgrades: HOMES rebate thresholds and maximum amounts for home efficiency upgrades
The HOMES program page lists maximum rebate amounts by modeled energy-system savings tier and household or building type. The figures below reproduce the single-family, multifamily and low-income maximums shown for the two supplied tiers. These are maximum amounts, subject to the listed project-cost caps where applicable; they are not claims about what every applicant receives.
| Modeled energy-system savings tier | Single-family maximum | Multifamily maximum | Low-income household maximum |
|---|---|---|---|
| At least 20% but less than 35% | Lesser of $2,000 or 50% of project costs | $2,000 per dwelling unit, up to $200,000 per building | Lesser of $4,000 or 80% of project cost |
| At least 35% | Lesser of $4,000 or 50% of project costs | $4,000 per dwelling unit, up to $400,000 per building | Lesser of $8,000 or 80% of project cost |
For the 20% to less than 35% tier, the source associates the single-family and multifamily limits with homeowners and aggregators carrying out whole-house energy-saving retrofits. For the tier at 35% or more, it lists the limits for single or multifamily homes. The low-income column applies to single-family and multifamily households. The page’s displayed terms were checked on 2026-11-12; the date identifies when these program terms were displayed, not when a home receives a rebate. Source: ENERGY STAR, Home Efficiency Rebates (HOMES) Program
A modeled savings threshold determines which row applies; the table therefore describes program eligibility limits tied to modeled energy-system savings, not actual post-upgrade bill reductions. The distinction between modeled energy-system savings in the rebate table and modeled energy-use or energy-bill savings in the ENERGY STAR analysis above is material: the labels and scopes differ, so percentages from one source should not be substituted for the other. Source: ENERGY STAR, Home Efficiency Rebates (HOMES) Program