Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS)

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Table HC8.2 Water heating in U.S. homes by owner/renter status, 2015¹

Release date: February 2017
Revised date: May 2018

	Number of housing units (million)
				Housing unit type

				Single-family and mobile homes		Apartments
	Total U.S.²	Own	Rent³	Own	Rent³	Own	Rent³
All homes	118.2	74.5	43.7	71.2	16.5	3.3	27.2
Fuel used by main water heater
Natural gas	56.3	36.9	19.4	35.2	7.1	1.7	12.3
Electricity	54.6	32.0	22.5	30.5	8.9	1.5	13.6
Propane	4.2	3.5	0.8	3.4	0.4	Q	0.3
Fuel oil/kerosene	2.8	1.9	0.9	1.8	Q	Q	0.9
Some other fuel	0.3	0.2	Q	0.2	Q	N	Q
Size of main water heater
Small (30 gallons or less)	15.3	8.4	7.0	7.7	2.7	0.6	4.3
Medium (31 to 49 gallons)	51.8	36.7	15.2	35.9	9.0	0.8	6.1
Large (50 gallons or more)	31.8	25.2	6.6	24.9	4.7	0.3	1.9
Tankless	3.0	2.7	0.3	2.7	Q	Q	Q
Central water heater in an apartment building	16.3	1.5	14.7	N	N	1.5	14.7
Age of main water heater
Less than 2 years old	16.1	9.0	7.1	8.5	1.6	0.5	5.5
2 to 4 years old	23.9	13.5	10.4	12.7	3.3	0.8	7.2
5 to 9 years old	37.8	24.3	13.5	23.3	6.5	1.0	7.0
10 to 14 years old	23.0	16.3	6.7	15.7	3.6	0.6	3.1
15 to 19 years old	8.9	6.2	2.6	6.1	0.8	Q	1.8
20 years or more	8.6	5.2	3.3	4.8	0.7	0.4	2.6
Fuel used by secondary water heater
Natural gas	1.7	1.6	Q	1.5	Q	Q	Q
Electricity	2.3	2.0	0.2	2.0	Q	Q	Q
Some other fuel	0.4	0.4	N	0.4	N	N	N
Do not have a secondary water heater	97.6	68.9	28.7	67.2	16.3	1.7	12.3
Not asked (central water heater in an apartment building)	16.3	1.5	14.7	N	N	1.5	14.7
¹Housing characteristics data were collected between August 2015 and April 2016. ²Total U.S. includes all primary occupied housing units in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Vacant housing units, seasonal units, second homes, military houses, and group quarters are excluded. ³Rented includes households that occupy their primary housing units without paying rent. Q = Data withheld because either the Relative Standard Error (RSE) was greater than 50% or fewer than 10 households responded. N = No cases responded. Notes: Because of rounding, data may not sum to totals. See RECS Terminology for definition of terms used in these tables. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Office of Energy Consumption and Efficiency Statistics, Forms EIA-457A and EIA-457C of the 2015 Residential Energy Consumption Survey.