AC repair data for Columbia: what the federal numbers say

Name: AC repair local data for Columbia
Creator: CoMo Cooling Desk

Free local data for AC repair work in Columbia, taken from federal sources and last pulled October 30, 2026. It covers the Columbia, MO Metro Area, starting with records that bear on AC repair work directly, then the homes and the local trade.

Hot days and warm nights in Columbia

The Columbia Regional Airport weather station, about 11 miles from central Columbia, recorded an average of 12.0 days a year at 95°F or hotter from 2016 to 2025, compared with 8.8 a year in the 1970s. The hottest year by this count was 2012, with 47 such days.

The low stayed at 70°F or warmer on an average of 37.3 nights a year from 2016 to 2025, against 20.9 a year in the 1970s.

The highest temperature in the station's record was 111°F, first reached on July 30, 1980.

Days reaching 95°F or hotter at the Columbia Regional Airport weather station

Decade	Days 95°F or hotter, per year	Nights 70°F or warmer, per year
1970s	8.8	20.9
1980s	14.8	28.0
1990s	7.1	23.3
2000s	9.8	23.2
2010s	13.6	35.8

Daily maximum and minimum temperatures from NOAA GHCN-Daily station USW00003945 (Columbia Regional Airport), complete years 1970 to 2025. Years with fewer than 330 valid readings are left out. Station moves and instrument changes are not adjusted for, so compare decades with some care. Decade rows need at least 8 complete years.

Heat advisories and warnings issued for Columbia

From 2005 to 2025 the National Weather Service issued 70 heat advisories and 17 excessive or extreme heat warnings for the Boone forecast zone, which covers Columbia. Together they were in effect on 247 days, about 11.8 a year.

The last five years (2021 to 2025) averaged 15.0 heat-alert days a year, against 6.2 in 2005 to 2009. The most was 30 days in 2011.

In 2026, up to the end of October, there were 13 heat alerts covering 35 days.

Days with a heat advisory or heat warning in effect in the Boone forecast zone

NWS VTEC alert records (watches, warnings, advisories) from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet archive, for forecast zone MOZ041 (Boone), the zone containing the city centre. Counts are alerts issued, not measured heat, and each forecast office sets its own heat criteria, which have changed over time. Excessive Heat Warnings were renamed Extreme Heat Warnings in 2025; both are counted as warnings. A day counts when any alert was in effect during it (times shifted 6 hours from UTC).

How homes around Columbia are cooled, and what cooling costs

Across the 3 counties of the Columbia, MO metro area (Boone, Cooper, Howard), the ResStock modelled estimate is that 67.4% of occupied homes cool with central air conditioning, 9.9% with a heat pump, 18.5% with room or window units, and 4.2% have no cooling equipment. Statewide in Missouri the central air share is 69.3%; across the US it is 53.7%.

In the model, a home with cooling equipment in these counties uses about 3,509 kWh of electricity a year to cool (compressor plus fans and pumps), against 4,133 kWh statewide and 3,652 kWh for the US. At the average residential electricity price from September 2025 to August 2026, 13.9 cents per kWh in Missouri, that comes to about $487 a year per cooled home, compared with $574 across Missouri and $659 for the US at the US average of 18.1 cents per kWh.

Average residential electricity price in Missouri, by year

Modelled measure	Metro counties	Missouri	United States
Central air conditioning	67.4%	69.3%	53.7%
Heat pump	9.9%	9.7%	16.3%
Room or window units	18.5%	16.8%	19.8%
No cooling equipment	4.2%	4.2%	10.2%
Cooling electricity per cooled home	3,509 kWh	4,133 kWh	3,652 kWh
Yearly cost to cool at recent prices	$487	$574	$659

Modelled estimate: NREL ResStock 2024 release 2 baseline, 313 simulated dwellings in these counties, weighted to occupied homes and run with 2018 actual weather. Equipment shares are calibrated to surveys, not counted. Cost = modelled cooling kWh times the EIA average residential retail price for the county's state (simple mean of the latest 12 monthly values, the most recent months preliminary).

The housing here

The year-built mix is the closest public proxy for cooling load: it says how many systems are original or long past replacement. In the Columbia, MO Metro Area, 6,428 of 93,349 homes (6.9%) were built before 1940, and 13,376 (14.3%) before 1960. Nationally the shares are 11.7% and 25.6%. The median home across the metro is worth $258,700, against $332,700 nationally. 40.1% of households rent. Heating fuel splits 46.6% gas and 43.0% electric.

Area	Homes	Median year built	Built before 1940	Built before 1960	Renters	Gas heat	Electric heat	Median value
Columbia, MO Metro Area	93,349	1990	6.9%	14.3%	40.1%	46.6%	43.0%	$258,700
Boone County, Missouri	81,675	1991	4.8%	11.4%	42.3%	48.2%	43.5%	$272,800
Cooper County, Missouri	7,300	1974	21.7%	34.6%	24.3%	32.1%	42.8%	$203,500
Howard County, Missouri	4,374	1974	20.5%	35.9%	21.3%	37.3%	34.3%	$159,400
Columbia (city)	56,054	1993	4.4%	11.4%	51.3%	53.9%	43.4%	$284,600
Missouri	2,825,287	1978	13.3%	27.4%	31.9%	49.3%	38.8%	$230,300
United States	143,775,355	1980	11.7%	25.6%	34.8%	46.5%	41.3%	$332,700

U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates 2020-2024. Counties shown are the main ones in the metro (3 in all).

The local market

County Business Patterns counts 74 plumbing and HVAC contractors across the Columbia, MO Metro Area, 8.57 for every ten thousand households. That is roughly one for every 1,167 households. The Census counts locations rather than companies, so a one-truck operator and a national chain's branch each count once. That Census code covers plumbing and heating and cooling together, so it counts more establishments than the trade alone.

Home prices

The Federal Housing Finance Agency's house price index for Columbia, MO is up 3.9% over the latest year (through 2025). Over five years it is up 56.6%, and over ten it is up 85.1%. The index follows repeat sales of the same houses, so it measures how prices moved, not what any one home sells for this month.

What the trade pays

HVAC and refrigeration mechanics and installers (SOC 49-9021) in Columbia, MO earned a mean of $29.97 an hour ($62,330 a year) in May 2025, against $31.14 an hour ($64,780) nationally, about 4% below the national mean. The median is $28.31 an hour here and $29.33 nationally. BLS estimates 330 people hold that job in Columbia, MO.

These are wages paid to workers, not prices charged to customers; a customer's bill also has to cover the vehicle and the insurance.

Where these numbers come from

The American Community Survey is a sample, so every housing figure carries a margin of error, and it is widest for small areas. Where a source suppresses a cell to protect individual businesses or because the sample is too thin, we leave it blank rather than estimate it. CoMo Cooling Desk reads these files and does not edit them.