Moody County, SD Insulation Payback
Moody County attic insulation, by the numbers
Moody County sits in IECC climate zone 6 (Cold) — a real winter that drives most of the annual energy bill here. For a currently uninsulated attic, DOE and ENERGY STAR recommend building 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 $2,322 a year — payback in roughly 1.5 years. Topping up the attic pays for itself fast here.
The breakdown behind the number
Split it out and it's roughly $2,240 a year on the heating side, $82 on cooling. By estimated insulation savings, Moody County lands in the 94th percentile nationally. Zone 6 alone covers 459 counties in this dataset, and Moody County comes in 83rd by savings. South Dakota averages $2,162/year across the counties tracked here; Moody County comes in 7% higher.
Moody County's actual weather, not a national average
The heating and cooling degree days behind this estimate — 8,376 HDD and 512 CDD (base 65°F, 1991-2020 normals) — come from FLANDREAU, SD US, the nearest NOAA station with published normals, 4.9 miles from Moody County's center. That combined heating-and-cooling load ranks Moody County 195th nationally by total degree days — the 94th percentile. One local detail the R-value alone won't tell you: Moody County sits in moisture regime A (humid), which can affect the vapor-barrier choice.
Already have some insulation?
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 $339/year saved (~6.7-year payback). Worth doing on the numbers alone.
Next steps for a Moody County attic
Real bids depend on how easy the attic is to reach and whether old insulation needs removing first, so treat $3,480 as a starting estimate for a Moody County job, not a quote. Expect at least a $600 minimum charge from most contractors.
Where these figures come from
Moody 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.