Furnace Replacement Cost 2026: $4,000–$6,500 Typical

Replacing a common mid-efficiency gas furnace in a US single-family house — about 80% AFUE, the ordinary non-condensing unit, in the same closet, basement, or attic, with the ducts, the gas line, and a usable metal flue kept in place — often clusters around $4,000–$6,500. The wider national spread, about $2,500–$18,000, covers an easy 80% swap in a lower-cost area at the low end and a condensing furnace, a tight install, a ducted heat pump, or dual fuel at the high end. Geothermal, all-new ducts, or a house that has no gas service yet can clear that spread. This is a planning range, not a quote.

Bids sometimes label this same 80% furnace “standard efficiency” and reserve “mid” for a 90% unit. On this page the typical band is the common non-condensing gas furnace on ducts you already have. A condensing furnace, about 95% AFUE and up, is the step up. A boiler, a wall furnace, and a commercial rooftop unit are different products.

The carton price is not the job. A furnace at a supply house can look like a couple of thousand dollars. The bid is the permit, the flue, the gas connector, the electrical whip, startup, and haul-away. Square-foot rules of thumb are a poor way to pick BTUs. A compact two-story and a leaky ranch with the same floor area are not the same load. Price the furnace and the vent you have, not a BTU chart you saw on a forum.

The rows below are ways to read one heating job. They are not added together. A condensing furnace, or a ducted heat pump, replaces the 80% band. It is not a second furnace on top of it.

Scope	Typical cost
Mid-efficiency gas furnace, about 80% AFUE, existing ducts and flue	$4,000–$6,500
Condensing gas furnace, about 95% AFUE, with a PVC vent	$6,500–$12,000
Ducted heat pump or dual fuel	$8,000–$16,000
Wider national spread	$2,500–$18,000

What the range includes

The typical band assumes an existing single-family house with ducts, one mid-efficiency 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 — set where the old furnace sits. It includes the new furnace, connection to the existing supply and return, a gas connector sized for that input, the existing metal flue when it is sound and still the right type, a permit where the city requires one, startup, and haul-away of the old cabinet. A basic thermostat swap is often included. A communicating thermostat is not.

An easy basement swap in a lower-cost area, with a straight flue and a gas line that is already the right size, sits toward the floor of the wider spread. A closet or attic furnace, a coil that has to come off with the cabinet, or a flue that fails inspection sits at the top of the typical band and leaves it.

The floor of the national spread, near $2,500, is a basic 80% gas furnace, same location, on ducts a truck can reach, in a lower-cost market. It is not a condensing furnace or a heat pump that someone discounted. The top, toward $18,000, is where a high-efficiency condensing install with a new vent path, a furnace buried in a crawl space or a tight attic, a ducted heat pump, and dual fuel usually land. Geothermal, a replacement of the duct system, or bringing gas to a house that does not have it can clear that top. Treat a number above it as a different scope and ask which driver caused it.

A condensing gas furnace, about 95% AFUE, is often discussed from the top of the typical band into the wider spread, roughly $6,500–$12,000, because the equipment, the PVC vent, and the condensate drain are a different install than an 80% swap. A ducted heat pump, or a dual-fuel pair that keeps a gas furnace for the coldest days, is often discussed around $8,000–$16,000, the same heat-pump conversation as the central air guide, and it can reach the top of this spread when access or the electrical service is part of the job. Those figures are cross-checks, not bids. A room the ducts do not reach, or a house with no ducts, is the ductless mini-split guide.

None of the bands include a new condenser and coil, all-new ductwork, asbestos abatement, a main electrical panel upgrade, or a separate envelope job such as attic insulation or window replacement. Price cooling equipment on the central air guide. Price a furnace and a condenser in the same visit on the AC and furnace guide. If the same season includes new windows, price those openings on their own. Do not fold any of those into the furnace bid.

What moves the price

Driver	How it changes the bid
Efficiency	An 80% furnace on a sound metal flue is the typical band. A 95% condensing furnace needs PVC venting and a condensate drain, and it usually leaves that band.
Staging	Single-stage is the common mid-efficiency unit. Two-stage costs more. Modulating equipment is a high-efficiency price, not a small option.
Venting	Reusing a sound B-vent keeps the job a furnace swap. A failed chimney, a new vent path through a finished wall, or an orphaned water-heater flue is its own line.
Access	A basement with a clear walkway is the planning job. A crawl space, a tight closet, or an attic air handler is labor.
Coil and ducts	A coil married to the old cabinet may have to be replaced with the furnace. Leaky or undersized ducts can cost as much as the equipment. This range assumes the ducts stay.
Electrical	A like-for-like blower circuit is ordinary. A variable-speed blower or a heat pump that the panel cannot accept is a different project.
Fuel change	Propane, where the tank and line already exist, is close to a gas swap. Oil-to-gas, or a house with no gas service, is not.

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.

If the evaporator coil is married to the old furnace cabinet, say whether the coil stays. A new furnace that strands a working air conditioner is how a heating bid becomes a cooling bid. That condenser and coil are the central air guide. A new circuit for a heat pump, or a panel that cannot take the blower, is the electrical panel guide. Do not fold the service into the furnace bid, and do not fold the furnace into the panel bid.

A room that stays cold at the outside wall is not automatically a furnace that is too small. Thin attic insulation and tired windows lose heat you already paid to make. Price those on the attic insulation guide and the window guide before you buy a larger BTU rating. Oversizing short-cycles the furnace. It does not fix a bare attic.

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.

If water stains start at the chimney or the flue, price that leak on the roof guide before you order a furnace. A new cabinet does not fix flashing.

DIY or hire

Hire. Gas piping, combustion air, the flue, and — on a condensing furnace — the PVC vent and the condensate drain are where a small mistake becomes carbon monoxide or a water leak over a finished ceiling. Most jurisdictions treat the change-out as licensed, permitted work. Manufacturers also tie warranties to a licensed install and a startup record.

Homeowner work stops at the filter, the thermostat batteries, and keeping stored boxes off the return. Do not open the gas connection, cement a vent, or “just” swap the cabinet because the unit looks like it slides out. If you smell gas, leave and call the utility. That is not a weekend adjustment.

Hire even more clearly when the furnace is in a crawl space or a tight attic, when the chimney is lined or shared, or when the new equipment is a heat pump or dual fuel. Refrigerant work on a heat pump is the same restricted trade as on a central air conditioner.

Repair or replace

Repair when the furnace is under about 12 to 15 years old, it has been maintained, the heat exchanger is intact, and one part failed: an ignitor, a flame sensor, a capacitor, an inducer motor, or a blower motor. Ask for the repair price next to a replacement price. A repair that is a large fraction of a new furnace, on a unit already near the end of its life, is usually the wrong purchase.

Replace when the heat exchanger is cracked or rusted through, the furnace is past about 15–20 years — a service life people plan around, not a warranty — combustion air or the flue can no longer be made safe, or this is the second significant repair in a short span. A cracked heat exchanger is not a part you patch. It is the reason the furnace has to come out. A new thermostat on a furnace that will not stay lit is still the old furnace.

Have the technician do a combustion check and look at the heat exchanger before you choose. Uneven rooms are not, by themselves, proof that the furnace is done. They are often ducts, a closed register, or an envelope problem. Have those checked before you buy BTUs you do not need.

How to use this number

Ask for bids that state the AFUE, 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 evaporator coil stays, whether the gas line stays, how condensate is drained if the unit condenses, who pulls the permit, and who hauls the old furnace away. Compare an 80% furnace in the same location with the typical band. Compare a condensing furnace with the upper part of the wider spread. Compare a heat pump or dual fuel with the top of that spread and with the central air guide, and make the efficiency an option so you can see the cabinet versus the vent.

A very low bid on a condensing furnace is a reason to ask whether the PVC vent, the condensate drain, and the water-heater flue are included, not a reason to celebrate. A high bid should point at venting, access, a heat pump, ducts, or the electrical service. Two or three local bids on the same fuel and the same location are the number that matters. How this site sets the band is explained on the methodology page.