Lamar County, TX Insulation Payback
Lamar County attic insulation, by the numbers
Lamar County, Texas is zone 3 under DOE's climate map (Hot-Humid), which means summers that stay hot and humid while winters barely register on the energy bill. An uninsulated attic there should be built up to R-49. Topping up a typical 1,000-square-foot attic from bare joists (R-2) to R-49 runs an estimated $2,820, and saves about $1,122 a year in heating and cooling — a payback around 2.5 years. Topping up the attic pays for itself fast here.
Heating vs. cooling in Lamar County
Split it out and it's roughly $699 a year on the heating side, $423 on cooling. By estimated insulation savings, Lamar County lands in the 26th percentile nationally. Zone 3 alone covers 690 counties in this dataset, and Lamar County comes in 205th by savings. Texas averages $1,035/year across the counties tracked here; Lamar County comes in 8% higher.
Lamar County's actual weather, not a national average
Lamar County's climate figures — 2,636 heating and 2,652 cooling degree days a year — are read from PARIS, TX US, 0.8 miles away, NOAA's nearest 1991-2020 normals station. By total degree days, Lamar County sits at the 34th percentile nationally. One local detail the R-value alone won't tell you: Lamar County sits in moisture regime A (humid), which can affect the vapor-barrier choice.
The smaller top-up scenario
A shallower starting point changes the math: with R-11 already down, only the gap to R-38 needs filling, at roughly $1,620 for an estimated $151/year saved (~10.7-year payback). Call this borderline rather than a clear win.
Next steps for a Lamar County attic
Real bids depend on how easy the attic is to reach and whether old insulation needs removing first, so treat $2,820 as a starting estimate for a Lamar County job, not a quote. Expect at least a $600 minimum charge from most contractors.
Where these figures come from
Lamar County's R-49 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-49 is the target here specifically.