AC and Furnace Replacement Cost (2026) — Typical US Range

Replacing the furnace and the central air conditioner in one visit — a matched gas furnace and condenser, standard efficiency, on ducts a single-family house already has — often clusters around $7,000–$14,000. That is the typical AC and furnace replacement cost, and the furnace and AC combo cost, for a house that already has ducts. A new HVAC system cost, when it means this pair rather than a heat pump or a mini-split, is the same band. The wider national spread, about $5,500–$28,000, covers a small standard-efficiency pair in a lower-cost area at the low end and a large high-efficiency install, dual fuel, or a job that has to rebuild ducts at the high end. A house with no ducts is a different project. These are typical planning ranges, not a quote.

This page sits between a furnace-only swap and an air-conditioner-only swap. The furnace guide is heat. The central air guide is cooling. Doing both in the same season is its own project, because the coil, the blower, and the outdoor unit are one matched system, and the labor happens once.

The carton price is not the job. A furnace and a condenser at a supply house can look like a few thousand dollars each. The bid is the permit, the line set, the flue or the PVC vent, the electrical whip, startup, and haul-away of both cabinets. Square-foot rules of thumb are a poor way to pick tons or BTUs. A tight two-story and a leaky ranch with the same floor area are not the same load. Price the pair and the ducts you have, not a chart you saw on a forum.

The rows below are ways to read one job. They are not added together. The size rows and the tonnage rows are a standard-efficiency gas furnace and a matched central air conditioner on ducts you keep. A house of about 2,000 square feet and a 3-ton system are two readings of that kind of job, not two bills. The efficiency rows and the gas-versus-electric rows are the whole visit again, at a different equipment choice. A basic thermostat, an ordinary permit, and haul-away are already inside those rows. Use an add-on row only when that assumption fails.

Scope	Typical planning range
About 1,000 sq ft, often discussed as about 2 tons	$5,500–$10,000
About 1,500 sq ft, often discussed as about 2.5 to 3 tons	$6,500–$12,000
About 2,000 sq ft, often discussed as about 3 to 3.5 tons	$7,000–$14,000
About 2,500 sq ft, often discussed as about 4 tons	$9,000–$16,000
About 3,000 sq ft, often discussed as about 4 to 5 tons	$11,000–$18,000
2 ton	$5,500–$10,000
3 ton	$7,000–$14,000
4 ton	$9,000–$16,000
5 ton	$12,000–$20,000
Standard efficiency, gas furnace and central air	$7,000–$14,000
High efficiency, condensing furnace and higher SEER2	$10,000–$18,000
Heat pump and furnace, dual fuel	$12,000–$22,000
Gas furnace with the air conditioner	$7,000–$14,000
Electric furnace with the air conditioner, panel already sized	$6,500–$13,000
Duct repair, sealing or a few replaced runs	Often $800–$3,000 extra
Duct replacement	Often $5,000–$12,000
Basic thermostat	Included in the installed rows
Communicating or smart thermostat	Often $300–$800 extra
Permit	Often $50–$400, already inside the installed rows
Removal of the old furnace and condenser	Included; often $150–$400 if the bid leaves it out

A house of about 1,000 square feet, talked about as a 2-ton pair, sits on the $5,500–$10,000 row. An easy closet and a short line set in a lower-cost area sit toward $5,500, which is the floor of the wider spread. The same small house in a high-labor metro sits toward $10,000. A house of about 1,500 square feet is the $6,500–$12,000 row, often discussed as 2.5 to 3 tons. Read the low end when the ducts are short and the flue can stay. Read the high end when the air handler is in a closet or an attic.

A house of about 2,000 square feet is the typical band itself, $7,000–$14,000. That is the HVAC replacement cost for a house of about 2,000 square feet: a standard-efficiency gas furnace and a matched air conditioner, often discussed as 3 to 3.5 tons, with the ducts kept. A one-story ranch with a basement furnace and a condenser on a clear pad sits toward $7,000–$10,000. A two-story house with the equipment in a tight attic sits toward $12,000–$14,000. The 3-ton row is that same typical band, $7,000–$14,000. Use the size row or the tonnage row. Adding them double-counts the job.

A house of about 2,500 square feet is $9,000–$16,000, often discussed as about 4 tons. The lower half overlaps the typical band. Difficult access on that house sits toward $16,000. A second system is a second bid, not a line on this row. A house of about 3,000 square feet is $11,000–$18,000, often discussed as 4 to 5 tons. A 4-ton pair is $9,000–$16,000. A 5-ton pair is $12,000–$20,000. Five tons is a large house or a house with a lot of glass and a weak envelope. It is a description bids use, not a reason to skip the load calculation. A 5-ton high-efficiency install with a hard attic can move toward the top of the wider spread, about $28,000.

Standard efficiency — a gas furnace around 80% AFUE and a mid-tier SEER2 air conditioner, matched and installed where the old equipment sat — is the typical band, $7,000–$14,000. High efficiency is a different row, $10,000–$18,000: a condensing furnace around 95% AFUE, which needs a PVC vent and a condensate drain, plus a higher-SEER2 condenser and coil. That row leaves the typical band because the vent path and the equipment both change. Dual fuel, a heat pump for most of the year and a gas furnace for the coldest days, is $12,000–$22,000, the same figure as the heat pump guide. It is one bid for both pieces of equipment and the controls. It is not the standard row plus a heat pump.

A gas furnace with the air conditioner is the typical band again, $7,000–$14,000. An electric furnace with the air conditioner is often $6,500–$13,000 when the panel already carries that furnace. There is no metal flue and no gas connector, so an easy like-for-like swap can sit a little under the gas row. The condenser, the coil, and the labor to set them are still the job. Switching from gas to electric, or landing an electric furnace on a panel that cannot take the breaker, is a panel upgrade, often $2,000–$4,200 for a straightforward 100-amp to 200-amp change. Do not fold that service into the equipment row.

Duct repair — sealing, balancing, or replacing a crushed run — is often $800–$3,000 on top of the equipment row, and only when the ducts cannot simply stay. Replacing the supply and return system is often $5,000–$12,000, and it is its own scope. A full duct replacement on a larger house, or asbestos abatement on old ducts, can clear the wider spread. This page assumes the ducts you have can be kept. A basic thermostat is inside the installed rows. A communicating thermostat, or a smart thermostat the bid prices apart from a basic control, is often $300–$800 extra. An ordinary permit is often $50–$400 and is already inside the installed rows. Haul-away of the old furnace and the old condenser is inside those rows too. A bid that leaves both cabinets in the driveway is a different scope; removal, when it is missing, is often $150–$400.

What the range includes

The typical band assumes an existing single-family house with ducts, one gas furnace of a common residential size — often something like 60,000 to 100,000 BTU input, which is a description, not a sizing rule — and one split-system air conditioner of about 2 to 3.5 tons, set where the old equipment sits. It includes the furnace, the condenser, the evaporator coil, connection to the existing supply and return, a line-set replacement or a flush when the contractor says the old line is acceptable, refrigerant, a gas connector when the furnace is gas, the existing metal flue when it is sound and still the right type, a disconnect if required, a permit where the city requires one, a basic thermostat, startup, and haul-away of the old furnace and outdoor unit.

An easy basement furnace and a condenser on a clear pad, in a lower-cost area, sit toward the floor of the typical band. A closet or attic air handler, a coil that will not come out of a finished space cleanly, or a flue that fails inspection sits at the top of that band and leaves it.

The floor of the national spread, near $5,500, is that small-house standard pair: about 2 tons, same locations, ducts and a sound flue reused, in a lower-cost market. It is not a high-efficiency system or a dual-fuel pair that someone discounted. The top, toward $28,000, is where a 5-ton or high-efficiency install, difficult access, and duct repairs that the new equipment needs usually land together. A full duct replacement, a main electrical panel upgrade, or dual fuel in a hard-to-reach house can sit on that top or clear it. Geothermal, and a house that has no ducts yet, clear it. Treat a number above it as a different scope and ask which driver caused it.

Replace both in one visit when you want one matched system and one startup. The evaporator coil often sits on the furnace cabinet. A new furnace that strands a working coil, or a new condenser left on an old coil, is how a cheap bid becomes a weak system. The labor overlaps: one permit, one electrical tie-in, one thermostat, and one haul-away, instead of two trips a year apart. That shared work is why the typical combo is $7,000–$14,000 and not the furnace band stacked on the air-conditioner band. A mid-efficiency gas furnace alone is often $4,000–$6,500 on the furnace guide. A condenser and coil alone are often $5,500–$9,500 on the central air guide. Adding those two typical lows double-counts the permit, the trip, and haul-away.

Keep them separate when one half is young. A cracked heat exchanger, when the air conditioner is only about five years old, is a furnace job if the coil can stay matched. A failed compressor on a sound furnace that is only about six years old is a central-air job. Say which half is being replaced before you compare a combo bid with a single-trade bid.

A matched system means the outdoor unit, the indoor coil, and the furnace blower are a combination the manufacturer tested together. Shops look that combination up in the AHRI directory. SEER2, the seasonal cooling efficiency rating on current equipment, is a rating for that match, not for a condenser someone paired with a leftover coil. A higher SEER2 rating costs more to buy. AFUE is the furnace rating: the share of the fuel’s heat that reaches the house over a season. About 80% AFUE is the common non-condensing gas furnace on a metal flue. About 95% AFUE is a condensing furnace. The PVC vent and the condensate drain are why the high-efficiency row is $10,000–$18,000 instead of the typical band. A condensing furnace alone is often discussed around $6,500–$12,000 on the furnace guide. On this page the air conditioner is still in the bid.

An 80% furnace often shares a chimney with the water heater. A condensing furnace does not use that chimney. The water heater then vents into a flue that is too large and too cool, which is a carbon monoxide problem, not a leftover. Price that vent, or a new water heater, on the water heater guide. Do not let it hide as a one-line allowance on a high-efficiency combo.

Sizing is a Manual J load calculation, described in general terms: the contractor estimates the heating and cooling the house actually needs from the climate, the insulation, the windows, the direction the glass faces, the ceiling height, and how leaky the shell is, room by room. The heating result is a BTU load. The cooling result is tons. A ton of cooling is 12,000 BTUs an hour. The square-foot rows on this page are a stand-in for that calculation when nobody has done one yet. Two houses with the same floor area are not the same load. Oversizing short-cycles the air conditioner and leaves the house clammy. Undersizing runs the equipment and still misses the thermostat. Ask for the load calculation in writing. A tonnage taken from a square-foot chart is not a Manual J.

A room that stays cold at the outside wall is not automatically a system that is too small. Thin attic insulation, often $1,800–$4,000 for a common unfinished attic, loses heat you already paid to make. Price that before you buy a larger tonnage. Tired windows are the window guide. A house with no ducts, or one room the ducts never reached, is the ductless mini-split guide, often $2,000–$5,500 for one zone. A ducted heat pump that heats and cools without a gas furnace is the heat pump guide, often $8,000–$18,000.

Some utilities and state programs rebate a high-efficiency matched pair or a heat pump, and the form often asks for the AHRI certificate and a licensed install. Federal tax treatment of efficient heating and cooling equipment changes. A credit that applied to an earlier purchase is not automatically available on a 2026 invoice. These ranges are before incentives. Ask which form the equipment can support, then confirm with the utility and a tax preparer before you treat a rebate as cash. Do not accept a bid that has already subtracted a credit you have not received.

None of the bands include a main electrical panel upgrade, asbestos abatement, geothermal, all-new ductwork, or a separate envelope job. If the panel cannot take the breaker, price that on the electrical panel guide. Do not fold the service into the HVAC bid, and do not fold the furnace and the air conditioner into the panel bid.

What moves the price

Driver	How it changes the bid
Home size and tonnage	About 2,000 square feet, or about 3 tons, is the typical band, $7,000–$14,000. About 1,000 square feet or 2 tons is often $5,500–$10,000. A 5-ton pair is often $12,000–$20,000. Square feet do not set the tons. A Manual J does.
Efficiency	Standard efficiency, about 80% AFUE and mid-tier SEER2, is the typical band. High efficiency, a condensing furnace and a higher SEER2 match, is often $10,000–$18,000.
Fuel	Gas on a sound metal flue is the typical band. An electric furnace, when the panel already carries it, is often $6,500–$13,000. A fuel change that needs a new service is the panel guide.
Dual fuel	A heat pump plus a gas furnace is often $12,000–$22,000. It is a different system from a standard furnace-and-air-conditioner pair.
Match	The condenser, the coil, and the furnace blower need an AHRI match. SEER2 on the label is for that combination. A new outdoor unit on an old coil is a cheap number and a weak system.
Ducts	Ducts that can stay are inside the rows. Repair of a few runs is often $800–$3,000 extra. Replacing the duct system is often $5,000–$12,000 and can clear the typical band.
Access and venting	A basement furnace and a pad the truck can reach are the planning job. An attic coil, a failed chimney, or a new PVC vent path for a condensing furnace is labor.
Thermostat, permit, removal	A basic thermostat, a permit often $50–$400, and haul-away are inside the installed rows. A communicating thermostat is often $300–$800 extra. Haul-away left off the bid is often $150–$400.

If the old air conditioner still uses R-22, the refrigerant circuit is a replace case, not a top-off case. Say so at the start. The new coil and condenser are a pair. Replacing only the outdoor unit is how the low bid shows up.

Some jurisdictions will not pass an 80% furnace on a replacement. A bid that assumes one, in a city that requires condensing equipment, is not comparable to a 95% bid. Ask before you treat the lower number as the same job.

DIY or hire

Hire. Opening the refrigerant circuit requires EPA Section 608 certification, and the gas piping, the flue, and — on a condensing furnace — the PVC vent and the condensate drain are licensed, permitted work in most places. A mistake on the gas side is carbon monoxide, not a fitting you can redo on Sunday. Manufacturers also tie warranties to a licensed install and a startup record.

Homeowner work stops at the filter, the thermostat batteries, keeping plants and dryer lint off the outdoor coil, and pouring a cup of vinegar through a condensate line that clogs. None of that is a replacement. Do not open the line set, “top off” refrigerant, cement a vent, or pull the furnace because the cabinet looks like it slides out. If you smell gas, leave and call the utility.

Hire even more clearly when the equipment is in a crawl space or a tight attic, when the chimney is lined or shared with the water heater, or when the new system is high efficiency or dual fuel. Those are the jobs where a cheap weekend mistake becomes a leak over a finished ceiling, a tripped main, or a warranty denial.

Repair or replace

Repair one failed part when that half is under about 10 to 12 years old, it has been maintained, and the heat exchanger, the compressor, and the coil are sound. On the furnace that part is often an ignitor, a flame sensor, a capacitor, or a blower motor. On the air conditioner it is often a capacitor, a contactor, or a fan motor. Ask for the repair price next to a replacement price. A repair that is a large fraction of a new system, on equipment already near the end of its life, is usually the wrong purchase.

Replace both when the furnace is past about 15–20 years and the air conditioner is past about 12–15 years — service lives people plan around, not warranties — or the coil is married to a furnace that has a cracked heat exchanger, or the air conditioner still uses R-22 and the furnace is already old, or this is the second significant repair on both halves in a short span. A cracked heat exchanger is not a part you patch. A failed compressor on a matched system that is already old is the same kind of decision. A new thermostat on a furnace that will not stay lit, or on a condenser that will not start, is still the old equipment.

Replace only the half that failed when the other half is young, the heat exchanger or the compressor is sound, and the contractor can keep or replace the coil so the pair stays matched. A combo bid is the wrong purchase when you are being sold a new furnace you do not need. Have the technician do a combustion check, look at the heat exchanger, and check the refrigerant circuit before you choose. Uneven rooms are not, by themselves, proof that both cabinets are done. They are often ducts, a closed register, or an envelope problem.

How to use this number

Ask for bids that state the AHRI-matched furnace, coil, and condenser, the AFUE, the SEER2 rating, the tonnage, the BTU input, whether the furnace is single-stage, two-stage, or modulating, whether the metal flue stays or the vent becomes PVC, whether the line set is new, what happens to the ducts, gas or electric, who pulls the permit, whether haul-away is included, and whether a communicating thermostat is in the price. Compare a standard-efficiency gas pair on existing ducts with $7,000–$14,000. Compare a house of about 2,000 square feet with that same band. Compare high efficiency with $10,000–$18,000. Compare dual fuel with $12,000–$22,000 and with the heat pump guide. Compare a furnace-only or air-conditioner-only job with the furnace and central air guides so a combo bid is not asked to price a single swap.

These bands are the cost of the work. They do not subtract a rebate or a tax credit. Where a utility or state program is open, it is a separate approval.

A very low bid on a “complete system” is a reason to ask whether the coil, the line set, the vent, the permit, and haul-away are included, not a reason to celebrate. A high bid should point at efficiency, dual fuel, tonnage, access, ducts, or the electrical service. Two or three local bids on the same fuel and the same locations are the number that matters. How this site sets the band is explained on the methodology page.