Brooke County, WV Insulation Payback
Brooke County attic insulation, by the numbers
Brooke County, West Virginia is zone 5 under DOE's climate map (Cold), which means cold enough that heating, not cooling, is what decides the bill. An uninsulated attic there should be built up to R-60. For an attic around 1,000 square feet, closing the gap from R-2 to R-60 costs around $3,480 and saves an estimated $1,575 a year — payback in roughly 2.2 years. Topping up the attic pays for itself fast here.
Where the savings come from
Split it out and it's roughly $1,449 a year on the heating side, $126 on cooling. By estimated insulation savings, Brooke County lands in the 58th percentile nationally. Zone 5 alone covers 745 counties in this dataset, and Brooke County comes in 672nd by savings. West Virginia averages $1,526/year across the counties tracked here; Brooke County comes in 3% higher.
The climate data behind this
NOAA's WHEELING OHIO CO AP, WV US station, 7.6 miles from Brooke County, supplies the 5,419 HDD and 782 CDD this estimate runs on. By total degree days, Brooke County sits at the 56th percentile nationally. One local detail the R-value alone won't tell you: Brooke County sits in moisture regime A (humid), which can affect the vapor-barrier choice.
If the attic isn't bare
A shallower starting point changes the math: with R-11 already down, only the gap to R-49 needs filling, at roughly $2,280 for an estimated $230/year saved (~9.9-year payback). Call this borderline rather than a clear win.
Quotes and materials for this job
Actual quotes will vary by attic access, existing debris, and whether the job needs air sealing first. Treat the $3,480 figure above as a planning number for Brooke County, not a bid - contractors typically charge a $600 minimum regardless of job size.
Where these figures come from
Brooke County's R-60 target and its degree-day figures both come from named federal sources - see the methodology guide for exactly which ones. The guide to what R-value actually means explains why R-60 is the target here specifically.