Insulation cost in Philadelphia: what owners paid (2023 survey)
Philadelphia owners paid a median $1,000 for insulation: $500 below the U.S. median, the lowest of 6 big metros (Census Bureau, 2023).
What Philadelphia owners paid
$1,000
This is historical spending: work done in about 2021 to 2023 on owner-occupied homes, reported in the 2023 survey.
Margin of error ±$491: at 90% confidence the Philadelphia median lies between $509 and $1,491.
How Philadelphia compares
- U.S. median, same work
- $1,500
- Rank, highest first
- 6 of 6
Philadelphia: $1,000. The lowest of the big metros.
9 of the 15 metros have no published figure for this work, so the rank counts the other 6.
No published figure: Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix, Riverside, San Francisco, Seattle.
What it covers
Adding or replacing insulation anywhere in the house: attic, walls or floors.
The Census category is “Insulation” within “Interior Additions and Replacements”: what Philadelphia-area homeowners told the Census Bureau they paid, every size of job together.
Before you compare quotes
Ask every contractor to price the same scope, in writing. Which surfaces, removal, access and air-sealing tasks are included?
Then put the quotes in your project budget worksheet to see each one's scope beside its price.