FY 2026 Housing Needs Assessment Sections:

Home Energy and Utilities

This section looks at residential utility and energy use and how the cost of utilities affects household budgets. Many Ohioans struggle to afford their monthly utility bills. These additional costs beyond a rent or mortgage payment can make some places in Ohio less affordable to call home.

Section Highlights

The average Ohio home adds 4.2 metric tons of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere annually from residential activities, higher than the national average (3.0). Primarily these emissions are from fossil fuel combustion related to home energy use.
Adjusted for inflation, the average household in Ohio still spends less on basic utilities than it did 15 years ago — down 22% for homeowners and 16% for renters — due in large part to a reduction in the cost of natural gas. That said, utility costs have started to increase since reaching historic lows in 2021.
In 2024, 5.2% of Ohio households relied on the state's Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) to help with utility costs. The need for assistance is by far the highest in Southeast Ohio, where 12.7% of households participate in the program.
While broadband coverage has improved considerably over the past decade, 1 in 10 households in the state (10%) still lack a broadband subscription at home, limiting their access to reliable internet services. This is higher than the national average (9%). Eight of the ten counties with the highest share of homes without broadband are in Southeast Ohio.

Jump to: Home Energy Use | Utility Costs | Internet | Downloadable Tables | Notes

Please be advised that the following maps and data visualizations are provided for informational purposes only. Load times will vary depending on your internet connection speed. To download the data for a specific map or data visualization, first click in the white space of the graphic, click the "Download" button below and then click "Data" in the menu that pops up. You may also access most of the data through the downloadable tables in Excel posted lower down on the page.

Residential Greenhouse Gas Emissions, U.S. & Ohio

Source: Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks by State, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Residential Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Type

Source: Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks by State, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Residential Carbon Footprint

Source: CoolClimate Network; University of California, Berkeley (public data request)

Utility Costs

Homeowner Utility Costs
Renter Utility Costs

Average Monthly Homeowner Utility Costs by Type

Source: IPUMS USA, University of Minnesota (based on the American Community Survey Public Use Microdata Sample)

Average Monthly Renter Utility Costs by Type

Source: IPUMS USA, University of Minnesota (based on the American Community Survey Public Use Microdata Sample)

HEAP
PIPP

Share of Households Participating in HEAP

Source: Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) data, Ohio Department of Development (public data request); American Community Survey Five-Year Estimates, Table DP04

Share of Households Participating in PIPP

Source: Percentage of Income Payment Plan (PIPP) data, Ohio Department of Development (public data request); American Community Survey (ACS) Five-Year Estimates, Table DP04

Internet

Households Without Broadband, U.S. & Ohio

Source: American Community Survey (ACS) One-Year Estimates, Table B28003

Households Without Broadband Internet

Source: American Community Survey (ACS) Five-Year Estimates, Table B28003

Downloadable Tables

Home Energy and Utilities Tables – Coming Soon

Notes

Residential greenhouse gas emissions come from fossil fuel combustion in home energy use, as well as the use of products that emit ozone-depleting substances. Emissions are presented in millions of metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e). Other greenhouse gases include methane and nitrous oxide.

This CoolClimate Network model includes direct emissions from consumption of fossil fuels to heat homes as well as indirect emissions embodied in the production of electricity used to power homes. Electricity is measured in kilowatt hours per year, natural gas is measured in cubic feet per year, and home fuel oil is measured in gallons per year. Carbon footprint is measured in metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) per year.

For time series based on American Community Survey (ACS) or the ACS Public Use Microdata Sample, a gap is shown for the year 2020. Due to the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic in the data collection process, the level of nonresponse bias did not meet the Census Bureau's quality standards for a reliable release of standard one-year estimates for 2020. While experimental one-year estimates were released for that year using weighting methods to address the nonresponse bias, the Census Bureau has advised against comparing these to one-year estimates from other years.

Inflationary adjustments are based on the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, for "all items less shelter."