Morrow County, OR Insulation Payback

Morrow County attic insulation, by the numbers

Morrow County, Oregon 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 $1,524 a year — payback in roughly 2.3 years. Topping up the attic pays for itself fast here.

The breakdown behind the number

Split it out and it's roughly $1,439 a year on the heating side, $85 on cooling. By estimated insulation savings, Morrow County lands in the 54th percentile nationally. Zone 5 alone covers 745 counties in this dataset, and Morrow County comes in 715th by savings. Oregon averages $1,557/year across the counties tracked here; Morrow County comes in 2% lower.

The climate data behind this

Morrow County's climate figures — 5,380 heating and 531 cooling degree days a year — are read from HEPPNER, OR US, 4.6 miles away, NOAA's nearest 1991-2020 normals station. Combined heating and cooling load puts Morrow County in the 50th percentile of this 3,162-county dataset. One local detail the R-value alone won't tell you: Morrow County sits in moisture regime B (dry), which can affect the vapor-barrier choice.

If the attic isn't bare

Already have a few inches up there? Topping R-11 up to R-49 runs about $2,280 for about $222/year saved — roughly 10.3 years to break even. Call this borderline rather than a clear win.

Getting it done in Morrow County

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 Morrow County job, not a quote. Expect at least a $600 minimum charge from most contractors.

Where these figures come from

Morrow 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.