‹ BACK TO ALL 2015 RECS TABLES
Release date: February 2017
Revised date: May 2018
Number of housing units (million) | ||||||
Number of household members | ||||||
Total U.S.2 | 1 member | 2 members | 3 members | 4 members | 5 or more members | |
All homes | 118.2 | 28.7 | 42.7 | 19.4 | 15.5 | 11.8 |
Fuel used by main water heater | ||||||
Natural gas | 56.3 | 13.6 | 19.1 | 9.7 | 8.1 | 5.8 |
Electricity | 54.6 | 13.7 | 20.3 | 8.6 | 6.5 | 5.5 |
Propane | 4.2 | 0.8 | 2.0 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.4 |
Fuel oil/kerosene | 2.8 | 0.5 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 0.4 | Q |
Some other fuel | 0.3 | Q | Q | Q | Q | Q |
Size of main water heater | ||||||
Small (30 gallons or less) | 15.3 | 5.0 | 5.3 | 2.0 | 1.9 | 1.0 |
Medium (31 to 49 gallons) | 51.8 | 11.5 | 19.2 | 9.4 | 6.5 | 5.2 |
Large (50 gallons or more) | 31.8 | 4.8 | 11.3 | 5.8 | 5.5 | 4.4 |
Tankless | 3.0 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
Central water heater in an apartment building | 16.3 | 6.9 | 5.5 | 1.8 | 1.2 | 0.9 |
Age of main water heater | ||||||
Less than 2 years old | 16.1 | 3.8 | 5.6 | 2.7 | 2.3 | 1.8 |
2 to 4 years old | 23.9 | 5.9 | 9.3 | 3.2 | 3.4 | 2.2 |
5 to 9 years old | 37.8 | 8.7 | 13.5 | 6.4 | 4.8 | 4.3 |
10 to 14 years old | 23.0 | 5.2 | 8.2 | 4.5 | 2.9 | 2.2 |
15 to 19 years old | 8.9 | 2.1 | 3.3 | 1.4 | 1.3 | 0.8 |
20 years or more | 8.6 | 3.0 | 2.9 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 0.6 |
Fuel used by secondary water heater | ||||||
Natural gas | 1.7 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.3 |
Electricity | 2.3 | 0.4 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
Some other fuel | 0.4 | Q | 0.2 | Q | Q | Q |
Do not have a secondary water heater | 97.6 | 21.2 | 35.5 | 17.1 | 13.4 | 10.3 |
Not asked (central water heater in an apartment building) | 16.3 | 6.9 | 5.5 | 1.8 | 1.2 | 0.9 |
1Housing characteristics data were collected between August 2015 and April 2016. Q = Data withheld because either the Relative Standard Error (RSE) was greater than 50% or fewer than 10 households 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. |