Economic uncertainty is changing how virtually all U.S. homeowners plan to cool their homes this summer, with nearly 1 in 3 (31%) saying those changes will be “dramatic,” the DuraPlas 2026 Summer Cooling Report finds.

Heading into the summer of 2026, most Americans are doing more math before they turn on the AC. With utility bills rising and summers getting hotter, we wanted to understand how economic uncertainty is reshaping the way homeowners cool their homes, and how those behaviors have shifted since we ran similar surveys in 2023, 2024, and 2025.

To find out, DuraPlas used the third-party platform Pollfish to complete the DuraPlas 2026 Summer Cooling Report, surveying 600 U.S. homeowners aged 18 and older in April 2026. We asked how economic pressure is changing their cooling plans, where they're setting their thermostats, which low-cost tactics they're leaning on, how they feel about the HVAC systems they rely on, and which modern comforts they'd give up before their AC. Where questions overlapped with our prior surveys (2023: n=1,000; 2024: n=600; 2025: n=1,000), we compared multi-year results to track how attitudes and behaviors have shifted.

Key Findings

• 99% of U.S. homeowners say economic uncertainty is changing how they plan to cool their homes this summer, with nearly 1 in 3 (31%) saying those changes will be “dramatic.”
• The average planned home temperature dropped from 72.9°F in 2025 to 69.4°F in 2026, a 3.5-degree year-over-year shift even as 36% of homeowners also say they're setting thermostats higher than in previous years.
• 71% of homeowners say their cooling habits have changed over the past three years because of hotter summers.
• 50% of homeowners have skipped HVAC maintenance to save money, a split that cuts across every income bracket, region, and generation.
• 74% of respondents would choose a more durable HVAC component over a cheaper one, and 71% prefer a system that's less expensive to operate over one that's less expensive to install.

Economic Uncertainty Is Changing How Americans Cool Their Homes, and Nearly Everyone Feels It

31%

of homeowners say economic uncertainty will change how they cool their home this summer “dramatically”, and virtually all the rest feel at least some impact.

Virtually all homeowners (99%) say economic uncertainty is changing their cooling plans this summer, with 31% calling those changes “dramatic” and another 68% calling them “somewhat” impactful. Only 8 respondents out of 600 reported no effect at all. The pattern has been building across four years of our surveys: 77% cited inflation's impact in 2023, 68% pointed to rising energy costs in 2024, and 80% said economic changes had made them more cautious about spending in 2025.

Some groups are feeling it harder than others. 48% of Gen Z homeowners (18–29) say the economic impact on their cooling plans is “dramatic,” compared to 31% of Millennials and 29% of Gen X. 40% of parents say it's dramatic versus 23% of non-parents, a 17-point gap. And higher earners are not immune: 38% of homeowners making $100K or more say the impact is dramatic, slightly above the 31% rate among those earning under $50K. Bigger homes mean bigger bills.

Americans Are Setting Thermostats Lower in 2026, But Not for the Reason You'd Expect

69.4°F

The average planned summer temperature in 2026, down from 72.9°F in 2025.

More homeowners are setting their thermostats lower this year, and 88% plan to keep their homes at 75°F or below. Just 4% plan to set theirs at 78°F, the Energy Star recommendation for summer cooling. They're also splitting into three camps.

Camp one: the coolers. 17% of homeowners now say they're running their homes cooler than in previous years, more than triple last year's 5%. These are the households giving up on the warmer-thermostat experiment and deciding the discomfort isn't worth it.

Camp two: the holdouts. 36% are still setting their thermostats higher than they used to, trying to save on energy bills. That number hasn't budged since 2025 and is up from 20% in 2023. The homeowners who raised their thermostats in past summers are mostly still holding the line.

Camp three: the shrinking middle. 47% say they haven't changed their cooling habits at all, down from 65% in 2023. The “no change” group used to be the clear majority. It isn't anymore.

Who's running the house coolest? Gen Z homeowners, at 67.8°F on average. Parents (68.5°F) keep homes cooler than non-parents (70.3°F), and men plan cooler homes than women, 68.5°F versus 70.3°F. Geographically, the pattern is counterintuitive: homeowners in hotter regions plan to keep their homes warmer, not cooler. Northeasterners average 67.1°F. Homeowners in the South average 70.6°F. And the Mountain West, covering Arizona, Nevada, and Colorado, tops the list at 72.2°F, the warmest planned setting of any region in the country.

When the Budget Gets Tight, Americans Reach for Fans, and Every Other Lever They Can Pull

64%

of homeowners plan to use ceiling fans more this summer, up from 39% in 2023 and 43% in 2025.

64% of homeowners plan to use ceiling fans more this summer, up from 43% last year and 39% in 2023. Call it the ceiling fan renaissance. The cheapest cooling tool in the house is leading the list of changes homeowners are planning this summer.

Opening windows at night is up 20 points year over year. Box fans climbed 13 points, and closing off unused rooms jumped 11. But “keeping the home slightly warmer” dropped to 23% from 35% last year. Many homeowners already raised their thermostats and are now out of room, so they're reaching for every other lever they can pull.

Hotter Summers Have Rewritten the Rules of Home Cooling, and Most Homeowners Aren't Going Back

71%

say their cooling habits have changed over the past three years due to hotter summers.

Economic uncertainty is the story of this summer. But a bigger, longer-running shift is happening in the background: 71% of homeowners say their cooling habits have changed over the past three years because of hotter summers. Adaptations that persist across three consecutive summers tend to become default behavior, such as how people run their equipment and how they plan their budgets.

Among the 71% who say their habits have changed:

• 64% use fans more often
• 49% run AC more often
• 47% close blinds or curtains more often
• 42% start using AC earlier in the season
• 38% pay more attention to their electric bills
• 35% stay in cooler parts of the house
• 33% run AC later into the night

The generational patterns split. Millennials and Gen Z are cooling more aggressively: 55% of Millennials and 59% of Gen Z run AC more often than they used to. Gen X and older homeowners are adapting through routine changes: closing blinds and running fans.

Half of homeowners have skipped HVAC maintenance to save money

50%

of homeowners have skipped HVAC maintenance to save money.

Half of homeowners have skipped HVAC maintenance to save money, and the behavior barely moves across income, gender, or parental status. Geography is the one place a real gap shows up. 54% of homeowners in the West have skipped maintenance, compared to 46% in the Northeast. The South and Midwest land between, at 49% and 52%. It's an 8-point spread, modest but the widest demographic split in the data.

Skipped maintenance isn't free. A dirty filter or an uncleaned condenser cuts efficiency, which raises the next bill, which makes the next tune-up harder to afford.

The $200 Threshold: Where Rising Cooling Bills Start Changing Homeowner Behavior

74%

of homeowners start changing cooling behavior by the time their monthly cooling bill reaches $200.

$200 is where most American homeowners stop absorbing rising cooling costs and start adjusting how they run the house. In the South and Southwest, $200 monthly cooling bills are routine during peak summer, which means most homeowners are at or near their threshold every year, not just in extreme ones. Homeowners earning under $50K are more than twice as likely as $100K+ earners to start changing cooling behavior once their monthly bill hits just $100, at 32% versus 14%.

When Budgets Are Tight, Homeowners Still Choose Durability Over a Lower Price Tag

74%

would rather buy a more durable HVAC component than a cheaper one.

Across three related value trade-offs, American homeowners chose long-term value over upfront savings.

urability drew the strongest preference of the three trade-offs we asked about. 74% of homeowners would rather pay a little more for an HVAC component that holds up than buy something cheaper they'll have to replace.

Operating costs follow the same pattern. 71% of homeowners prefer a cooling system that costs less to run over one that costs less to install, and 62% would rather invest in efficiency upgrades than comfort upgrades. Homeowners are thinking about the full cost of cooling their home, not just the sticker price.

AC Water Leaks and Failures Affect More Than 1 in 4 American Homes

27%

of homeowners have experienced water damage or leaks related to their AC system.

More than 1 in 4 homeowners report having experienced water damage or leaks from their AC system. 22% have noticed their outdoor AC unit shifting, tilting or sinking. At these rates, both are widespread problems, maintenance and reliability failures affecting tens of millions of households.

AC Ranks Above WiFi, Comfort, and Convenience, Just Not Smartphones

We closed the survey with a handful of “would you rather” questions. AC holds its own against most daily conveniences, with one exception.

• 53% would rather lose AC for a week than give up their phone for a week. Phones edge out comfort, though parents flip the script here: 58% of parents would rather keep the AC and give up the phone.
• 55% would rather lose WiFi for a day than AC, but Gen Z flips that script. 54% of Gen Z would give up AC before WiFi. Every other generation picks AC.
• 69% would rather lose AC in the living room than in the bedroom. The bedroom is sacred. Women feel this even more strongly (75% vs. 63% of men).
• 55% would rather go one summer day without AC than one winter day without heat. Heat wins, but barely.

Methodology

Surveys: 2026, DuraPlas surveyed 600 U.S. homeowners aged 18 and older via the third-party platform Pollfish, fielded April 13, 2026. Comparison surveys: 2025 (n=1,000, fielded May 20, 2025), 2024 (n=600), and 2023 (n=1,000), all U.S. homeowners 18+ via Pollfish.

Sample composition (2026): 50% female / 50% male; 11% Gen Z (18–29), 43% Millennials (30–45), 40% Gen X (46–61), 6% Boomers (62+); 48% parents or expecting, 52% non-parents; 29% earning under $50K, 34% $50K–$99K, 35% $100K+. Boomer-specific findings (n=37) are directional only and not used as standalone headlines.

Note on multi-year comparisons: Surveys across years asked overlapping but not identical questions. Where comparable questions exist, we report results as directional year-over-year shifts. Differences in sample size (600 vs. 1,000) and slight wording changes should be considered. The 2026 sample skews younger than 2025 (mean age 44 vs. 55), which should be noted when citing the 3.5-degree temperature shift.

About DuraPlas: DuraPlas is a leading manufacturer of durable, high-performance solutions for HVAC, agriculture, industrial, and material handling applications. Based in Addison, Texas, DuraPlas is known for building products that last.