Estimate your replacement cost
Planning a tankless unit? Estimate tankless water heater cost
What goes into the price
A water heater replacement bill has four parts: the unit itself, the plumber's labor, small materials like connectors and valves, and extras your home or local code may require, such as a permit, an expansion tank or haul-away of the old tank.
The biggest swings come from changing fuel type, moving the heater to a new spot, or upgrading to a heat pump model that needs a dedicated 240V circuit and enough surrounding air.
Water heater replacement cost by type
| Type | Size | Budget | Standard | Premium |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gas | 30 gal | $569–$619 | $649–$714 | $649–$714 |
| Gas | 40 gal | $599–$659 | $709–$799 | $849–$939 |
| Gas | 50 gal | $679–$749 | $774–$899 | $899–$1079 |
| Gas | 65-80 gal | $1099–$1199 | $1289–$1379 | $1679–$1750 |
| Electric | 30 gal | $429–$469 | $429–$469 | $429–$469 |
| Electric | 40 gal | $599–$679 | $799–$849 | $999–$1150 |
| Electric | 50 gal | $559–$639 | $679–$799 | $749–$849 |
| Electric | 65-80 gal | $1000–$1100 | $1100–$1220 | $1200–$1340 |
| Heat pump | 40 gal | $1210–$1341 | $1341–$1789 | $2119–$2119 |
| Heat pump | 50 gal | $1859–$1859 | $1859–$1869 | $2219–$2219 |
| Heat pump | 65-80 gal | $1929–$2229 | $2529–$2689 | $2689–$2779 |
30 gal and 65–80 gal gas/electric tanks top out at basic units — manufacturers don't make a 9/12-year "premium" tier that small or that large from every line, so budget/standard/premium can overlap at those sizes. Electric 65–80 gal is a pattern-based estimate pending a direct listing re-check (see sources).
Gas
Gas tank heaters need proper venting and a gas connection. A like-for-like swap is usually the simplest job. Switching from electric to gas often means new gas line work and venting.
Electric
Electric tank heaters need no venting, which keeps installation simple. They need a correctly sized circuit, so check your panel if you're switching from gas.
Heat pump (hybrid)
Heat pump models cost more up front and need space, airflow and a condensate drain. They use much less electricity than standard electric tanks. Heat pump units aren't sold at 30 gal, so the calculator only offers 40, 50 and 65–80 gal for this type.
Additional costs to expect
| Item | Typical cost | When it's needed |
|---|---|---|
| Permit | $25–$300 | Most jurisdictions, every replacement |
| Old unit haul-away | $100–$500 | Unless you remove it yourself |
| Expansion tank | $150–$450 | Required on many closed plumbing systems |
| Drain pan | $40–$225 | Attics, upper floors, finished spaces below |
| Gas line work | $260–$820 | Switching to gas, or moving the unit |
| New 240V circuit | $500–$1000 | Switching to electric or heat pump |
| Venting change | $200–$600 | Switching to gas, or a different vent type |
| Relocation | $150–$3400 | Moving the heater to a new spot |
Cost by tank size
See the unit-price table above for all four sizes the calculator supports: 30, 40, 50 and 65–80 gal.
Labor cost to install a water heater
Plumbers typically charge $45–$200 an hour, and a standard swap takes a few hours. Hard-to-reach locations, fuel switches, relocation and after-hours calls all add time or a premium — an emergency call typically runs about 2× the standard rate. The calculator adjusts labor by state using wage data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Is there a federal tax credit for a new water heater?
The federal Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit (Section 25C), which covered qualifying heat pump water heaters, does not apply to property placed in service after December 31, 2025. Check your utility and state for current rebates instead.
Repair or replace?
Replace the heater if the tank itself is leaking or you see rusty hot water. Those problems can't be repaired. Faulty thermostats, heating elements, thermocouples and anode rods are usually repairable. If you smell gas, leave the house and call your gas utility before anything else.
Questions to ask before you hire
- Are you licensed and insured in this state?
- Is the permit included in the price?
- Is haul-away of the old tank included?
- What does the labor warranty cover, separate from the manufacturer's tank warranty?
- What happens to the price if a code upgrade is needed?
- Can I get the final price in writing before work starts?
Methodology and sources
We build each estimate from its parts: published retail unit prices, state labor indexes from BLS wage data, and permit fee schedules. Third-party cost guides are used only to sanity-check totals. Read how we estimate costs.
- Unit prices: Home Depot product listings, captured 2026-09-23 (see the price table above for individual models)
- Angi: water heater installation cost — permits, labor rate, gas line, electrical and relocation ranges
- Angi: emergency plumber cost — after-hours premium
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: OEWS May 2025, State (SOC 47-2152) — state labor index (source file archived at docs/bls-oesm25st-state.xlsx in the repo)
- Craftsman National Estimator labor-unit data (via TheFatBook's plumbing cost-index pages) — cross-check for labor hours
- Barnett Plumbing and a licensed master plumber's independent estimate (via JustAnswer) — cross-check for location-access time
- IRS: Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit
Labor hours are cross-checked against Craftsman National Estimator labor-unit data (an independent trade reference, via TheFatBook's cost-index pages), which show the same hours across many metros regardless of local wage rates — the signature of a real labor-unit table. Location multipliers are cross-checked against a contractor blog and a licensed master plumber's independent estimate (via JustAnswer), both of which land on the same rough figures already in use. None of this has been reviewed on our specific numbers by a licensed plumber yet.
Changelog
- : Dataset structure created. No prices collected yet.
- : Filled gas_tank and electric_tank unit prices for 40/50 gal (all 3 tiers) from Home Depot listings. Filled add-ons, permit, disposal, national hourly rate and emergency multiplier from Angi (cross-checked against independent guides where noted). baseHours, locationMult and materialsKit are estimates derived from published ranges, not per-line sourced — they need licensed-plumber review before publish, per ТЗ 4.2. Still missing: 30 gal / 65-80 gal unit prices, all heat_pump prices, and the state wage index (pending the official BLS OEWS state file).
- : Added the state wage index (50 states + DC) from the official BLS OEWS May 2025 state file (oesm25st.zip), SOC 47-2152. This closes the last non-price publish blocker; unit prices for 30/65-80 gal and heat_pump are still pending.
- : CORRECTION: an earlier pass wrongly excluded 40 gal from heat_pump, based on incomplete search results. 40 gal heat pump water heaters are a real, actively sold Rheem ProTerra product line (multiple current SKUs, $1,210-$2,119) — restored heatPumpSizes to ['40','50','65-80']; only 30 gal is genuinely unavailable at any warranty tier for either heat_pump or, distinctly, for gas/electric tanks (see below). Filled remaining unit prices: gas_tank/electric_tank 30 gal (both fuels top out at 6-year units — no 9/12-year tier exists at this size, so 'premium' reuses the best real 6-year option, documented per cell) and 65-80 gal (gas from real 75gal SKUs; electric 65-80gal budget/standard/premium are pattern-based estimates pending a direct SKU check next pass, flagged in their sources). heat_pump 40/50/65-80 filled from current Rheem ProTerra listings. This closes all remaining price-only publish blockers; labor hours, location multipliers, small-parts costs and a licensed-plumber review are still pending before status can move to 'published'.
- : Tightened baseHours: like_for_like now centers on 3.4 hours, cross-checked against TheFatBook's plumbing cost-index pages, which cite Craftsman National Estimator labor-unit data identically across 10+ metros (hours invariant, only wage rate changes by city -- the signature of a real labor-unit table, not a guess). The other four scenarios (fuel-switch, heat-pump conversion, tankless-to-tank) are still estimates scaled off that corroborated baseline, not independently sourced. locationMult and materialsKit are unchanged. This is a trade-reference cross-check, NOT a licensed-plumber review -- status stays draft and the page stays noindex.
- : Cross-checked (values unchanged) locationMult and materialsKit against independent trade sources: Barnett Plumbing (contractor blog) states hard-access installs (closet/attic/crawl space) add 30-60 minutes over an open-garage baseline; a licensed master plumber (50+ yrs, via JustAnswer) independently estimated attic/basement/inaccessible installs at roughly 1.5x an easily-accessible one; JD Precision Plumbing notes attic installs often require a second technician. These converge on the existing garage=1.0 / closet=1.15 / attic=1.35 multipliers rather than changing them. materialsKit (fittings, connectors, sediment trap) is consistent with cited per-item costs (sediment trap ~$20-50, flex connectors, shutoff valve) bundled into a single small-parts line. Still not independently sourced the way unitPrice and the two baseHours anchors are -- see prior entry. Status stays draft.
- : Editorial review and publication. Every price field re-checked for a source; the calculator's typical default job tested against independently published benchmark ranges (tests/benchmarks.test.ts), which now run on every build. Published at the owner's decision with an explicit note that the page has not yet been reviewed by a licensed tradesperson; the page must not claim such a review until one has actually happened.