Water heater replacement cost: what owners paid
When owners hired someone for a water heater, the middle half paid $900 to $2,000 and the typical job cost $1,400. Counting do-it-yourself jobs, the typical job was $1,000.
What owners paid
$1,400
The typical job when owners hired it out. The middle half paid $900 to $2,000.
Every job, do-it-yourself included: $1,000 typical.
Hired out, by home size: the typical job and the middle half
- Under 1,500 sq ft$1,200$760 to $2,000
- 1,500 to 2,499 sq ft$1,300$950 to $2,000
- 2,500 sq ft or more$1,600$1,000 to $2,500
Lowest big metro, $1,000: Miami. Highest, $1,900: New York City, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington DC.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Housing Survey 2023, the latest release: work owners did in about 2021–2023. Our percentiles from the survey’s public use file, checked October 11, 2026.
A new water heater at today’s prices
The figures above are what owners paid for work done in 2021 to 2023. Here is our estimate of a tank replacement today, for the tank and the place you choose: the tank at one store’s posted price, the permit where your city or county prints a fee, the plumber’s time at what a plumber costs an employer, and the share of the price plumbing contractors spend on overhead and keep as profit. Each figure says where it comes from, and the hours and the overhead share are yours to change.
Filled in as an example: a 40-gallon gas tank swapped for one like it. Type over any of it with your own tank and your plumber’s figures.
Our estimate for this replacement: $1,163, itemized below.
| Part | Cost | Where the figure comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Tank: 40 gallons, gas | $600 | Reliance 6-40-NOCT 400 (40 gallons, tall, natural gas, 35,500 BTU) at $599.99, Cole’s Hardware (Pennsylvania), price on ; prices vary between stores |
| Permit | Not added | Set by your city or county. Choose your metro to see its published fee. |
| Labor: 3 hours | $132 | At about $44 an hour, the employer’s cost of a plumber earning the median wage in the U.S. |
| Overhead and profit | $431 | 37% of the price, plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors’ average in 2022, homes and commercial work together: what was left of their receipts after materials, work they subcontracted and their workers’ pay and benefits, for office staff, rent, insurance, vans, fuel, taxes and profit (Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census) |
| Our estimate from these inputs | $1,163 | Not a plumber’s price: what this tank, this time and this overhead share add up to. A fair quote can be higher, since it also pays for what is not counted here. Before sales tax and delivery. Not counted: connectors, valves and fittings, a thermal expansion tank or earthquake straps where your code asks for them, changes to the vent, gas line or wiring, a drain pan, hauling the old tank away, and the permit until you choose your metro. A plumber may also charge a trip or a minimum for a small job. |
What an hour costs: no public source prices a plumber by the job, so the estimate counts the hours. Plumbers in the U.S. earn a median $30.67 an hour (BLS, May 2025). Benefits make up 30.5% of what construction employers spend an hour on pay and benefits (all trades, BLS, June 2026), so an hour of a plumber at that wage costs an employer about $44.
Type a quote’s total above to set it against this estimate.
Check the plumber’s license
Each state or city below licenses plumbers or plumbing contractors. Ask for the license number with the quote and check it before you sign (checked ).
- New York City: New York City’s Department of Buildings licenses master plumbers. Check the plumber in the department’s license search. NYC Department of Buildings: check a license
- Los Angeles, San Francisco and Riverside: California licenses plumbing contractors under the C-36 classification, which includes installing water heaters. Check that the license is active before you sign. California Contractors State License Board: check a license
- Chicago: Illinois requires anyone who installs or repairs plumbing to hold a license from its Department of Public Health, and a plumbing business must print its license number in its advertising. The City of Chicago licenses plumbers too (the state has a reciprocity form for Chicago licensees), so inside the city ask for the city license as well. Illinois Department of Public Health: plumbing licenses
- Dallas and Houston: Texas licenses plumbers through its State Board of Plumbing Examiners. Check the plumber’s license in the board’s license search. Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners
- Philadelphia: Philadelphia requires plumbers to hold a city trade license from its Department of Licenses and Inspections. Find the plumber in its contractor lookup. City of Philadelphia: find a licensed contractor
- Washington, DC: The District licenses plumbers through its Board of Industrial Trades. Ask for the plumber’s license and check it with the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection. DC Board of Industrial Trades
- Miami: Florida licenses plumbing contractors through the state. Check the license of the person who qualifies the company, not only the company name. Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation: verify a licensee
- Atlanta: Georgia licenses master and journeyman plumbers through its Secretary of State. Check the license in the state’s licensee search. Georgia Secretary of State: Division of Master and Journeyman Plumbers
- Boston: Massachusetts licenses journeyman and master plumbers and gas fitters through its Board of State Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters. Ask for the license number and check it with the board. Massachusetts Board of State Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters
- Phoenix: Arizona licenses home plumbing contractors under the R-37 classification, for water and gas piping and their fixtures. Check that the license is active and covers plumbing. Arizona Registrar of Contractors: contractor search
- Detroit: Michigan licenses master plumbers and plumbing contractors; a plumbing contractor holds a master plumber license or employs someone who does. Check the license with the state. Michigan LARA: find or verify a licensed professional
- Seattle: Washington certifies plumbers through Labor and Industries. Its lookup shows whether the plumber is certified and whether the contractor is registered, with a workers’ compensation account. Washington Labor and Industries: verify a contractor or tradesperson
When owners hired the work out
66% of these jobs were hired out. Each bar runs from the 25th to the 75th percentile of what those owners paid, so half of the jobs sit inside it; the tick is the median.
- United States$1,400$900–$2,000
- New York City$1,900$1,200–$2,000
- San Francisco$1,900$1,200–$3,000
- Seattle$1,900$1,200–$3,000
- Washington DC$1,900$1,000–$3,000
- Boston$1,800$1,100–$2,500
- Dallas$1,800$1,100–$2,500
- Atlanta$1,500$1,000–$2,100
- Los Angeles$1,500$1,000–$2,500
- Riverside$1,500$1,000–$2,200
- Chicago$1,300$1,000–$2,000
- Phoenix$1,300$800–$2,000
- Detroit$1,200$740–$1,500
- Houston$1,200$800–$2,000
- Philadelphia$1,200$1,000–$2,000
- Miami$1,000$700–$1,500
The hired-out figures as a table, with margins of error
Scroll the table sideways to see every column on a small screen.
| Homes | Sample jobs | 25th percentile | Median | 75th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Every home size | 1,786 | $900 ±$19 | $1,400 ±$205 | $2,000 ±$0* |
| Under 1,500 sq ft | 470 | $760 ±$133 | $1,200 ±$255 | $2,000 ±$58 |
| 1,500 to 2,499 sq ft | 733 | $950 ±$133 | $1,300 ±$127 | $2,000 ±$45 |
| 2,500 sq ft or more | 506 | $1,000 ±$0* | $1,600 ±$237 | $2,500 ±$274 |
| New York City | 49 | $1,200 ±$356 | $1,900 ±$228 | $2,000 ±$793 |
| San Francisco | 82 | $1,200 ±$154 | $1,900 ±$234 | $3,000 ±$629 |
| Seattle | 72 | $1,200 ±$371 | $1,900 ±$293 | $3,000 ±$762 |
| Washington DC | 86 | $1,000 ±$243 | $1,900 ±$210 | $3,000 ±$559 |
| Boston | 102 | $1,100 ±$182 | $1,800 ±$116 | $2,500 ±$404 |
| Dallas | 63 | $1,100 ±$275 | $1,800 ±$355 | $2,500 ±$1,616 |
| Atlanta | 56 | $1,000 ±$515 | $1,500 ±$412 | $2,100 ±$921 |
| Los Angeles | 67 | $1,000 ±$171 | $1,500 ±$251 | $2,500 ±$595 |
| Riverside | 76 | $1,000 ±$206 | $1,500 ±$238 | $2,200 ±$475 |
| Chicago | 75 | $1,000 ±$134 | $1,300 ±$323 | $2,000 ±$283 |
| Phoenix | 98 | $800 ±$237 | $1,300 ±$328 | $2,000 ±$285 |
| Detroit | 73 | $740 ±$241 | $1,200 ±$219 | $1,500 ±$292 |
| Houston | 82 | $800 ±$324 | $1,200 ±$107 | $2,000 ±$230 |
| Philadelphia | 76 | $1,000 ±$162 | $1,200 ±$240 | $2,000 ±$173 |
| Miami | 45 | $700 ±$276 | $1,000 ±$86 | $1,500 ±$270 |
* A margin of $0 means every replicate estimate landed on the same round figure: owners tend to report round amounts such as $10,000.
What these figures cover: Water heaters added or replaced, as the Census survey asks it: tank and tankless, gas and electric, every size together. Dishwashers and garbage disposals are counted on their own.
How these figures are made: from the Census Bureau's 2023 American Housing Survey public use file, each job counted with its survey weight and a 90% margin of error from the survey's replicate weights. A job is hired out when the owners said someone outside the household did most of the work. The public file rounds costs.
What moves the price
- Type and size: a tank by its gallons, a tankless unit by its flow rate; a heat pump water heater costs more to buy.
- Fuel: switching from electric to gas, or to a tankless gas unit, can mean a new gas line or new venting.
- Items your local code may ask for at replacement, such as an expansion tank, earthquake straps, a drain pan or a new shut-off valve.
- Access: a unit in an attic or a tight closet takes longer to swap.
- Removing and hauling away the old unit, and the permit.
From ENERGY STAR’s guide to heat pump water heaters. Your local building or health department decides what applies at your address.
Before you compare quotes
Ask every contractor to price the same scope, in writing. Do the quotes name the same unit (type, fuel, gallons or flow rate, model) and list the code items, removal, haul-away and permit?
Put the quotes side by side in the quote worksheet, or keep every price for the project in a budget worksheet.