The Ultimate Guide to the Perfect Home Temperature for Comfort and Savings

Finding the perfect temperature for your home can feel like a constant battle between staying comfortable and keeping your energy bills low. If you are wondering exactly how warm your house should really be, you are in the right place. We will break down the exact thermostat settings you need.

The Golden Rule for Winter Warmth

When the weather outside turns freezing, the natural instinct is to crank up the heat. However, keeping your house too warm is the fastest way to inflate your winter utility bills. So, how warm should a home really be during the colder months?

According to the United States Department of Energy, the ideal temperature to balance comfort and energy savings during the winter is 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius) while you are awake and at home.

This specific temperature is warm enough to keep your family comfortable, especially if you wear a light sweater or cozy socks, but low enough to significantly reduce the strain on your heating system. For every degree you lower your thermostat over an eight-hour period, you can save roughly one percent on your heating bill.

Optimizing for Sleep and Away Hours

Maintaining a constant 68 degrees around the clock is actually highly inefficient. To maximize your savings without sacrificing your quality of life, you need to adjust your thermostat based on your daily schedule.

The Ideal Sleep Temperature

You might think a warm, toasty room is best for a good night of rest, but science suggests otherwise. The National Sleep Foundation recommends keeping your bedroom temperature between 60 and 67 degrees Fahrenheit (15 to 19 degrees Celsius) for optimal sleep.

As you fall asleep, your core body temperature naturally drops. A cooler room facilitates this natural biological process, helping you fall asleep faster and achieve deeper, more restorative sleep stages. Setting your thermostat back to 65 degrees at night is a perfect compromise that guarantees better rest and lower heating costs.

Setting Temperatures While You Are Away

There is no reason to heat an empty house. When you leave for work or head out for the day, you should implement a temperature setback. The Department of Energy suggests lowering your thermostat by 7 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit from your normal setting for the eight hours you are away.

If your baseline is 68 degrees, dropping the house down to 58 or 60 degrees while the house is empty can yield up to a ten percent savings on your annual heating and cooling costs.

Summer Cooling Strategies

When the seasons change and the summer heat arrives, the strategy reverses. The goal shifts to keeping the house cool without running the air conditioner constantly.

For summer comfort and efficiency, the recommended baseline temperature is 78 degrees Fahrenheit (26 degrees Celsius) when you are home and awake. While 78 degrees might sound quite warm to some, you can make this temperature feel significantly cooler by utilizing ceiling fans.

Running a ceiling fan counterclockwise creates a wind-chill effect on your skin. This breeze can make a room feel up to four degrees cooler than the actual ambient temperature. This allows you to set your thermostat to a money-saving 78 degrees while experiencing the comfort of 74 degrees. Just remember to turn the fan off when you leave the room, as fans cool people, not empty spaces.

Automating Your Comfort with Smart Technology

Manually adjusting your thermostat four times a day to account for waking up, leaving for work, coming home, and going to sleep is tedious. This is where smart home technology becomes an essential tool for modern energy savings.

Upgrading to a smart thermostat takes the guesswork out of home climate control. Devices like the Google Nest Learning Thermostat or the Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium are specifically designed to automate your energy savings.

The Google Nest, for example, learns your daily routine over the course of a few weeks. It notes when you turn the heat up in the morning and when you turn it down at night, eventually creating an automatic schedule tailored to your life.

The Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium utilizes remote room sensors. You can place a sensor in your bedroom and another in your living room. The thermostat will then average the temperature based on the rooms you are actually occupying, rather than just the temperature in the hallway where the main unit is installed. Both of these specific devices also feature geofencing, meaning they track your smartphone’s location and will automatically switch to an energy-saving “Away” mode the moment you leave the neighborhood.

Beyond the Thermostat: Retaining Your Ideal Temperature

Achieving the perfect temperature is only half the battle. Keeping that conditioned air inside your home is just as important for your comfort and your wallet.

If your home is drafty, your heating and cooling systems have to work overtime to maintain your desired settings. You can dramatically improve your home’s thermal envelope with a few simple weekend projects.

First, check your windows and doors for drafts. Applying high-quality silicone weatherstripping to the moving parts of your windows and installing a sturdy door sweep on your exterior doors will block cold winter air from entering.

Second, consider your window treatments. Installing thermal blackout curtains, like those manufactured by Sun Zero or Eclipse, provides a heavy barrier against the elements. In the winter, keep these curtains open during the day to let the sun naturally warm your rooms, and close them tightly at night to trap the heat inside. In the summer, keep them closed during peak daylight hours to block solar heat gain and reduce the burden on your air conditioner.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it cheaper to leave the heating on low all day? No, this is a common myth. It takes less energy to warm up a cold house than it does to maintain a constant temperature in that house all day long. Lowering the temperature when you are away or asleep is always the more cost-effective strategy.

What is a dangerous temperature for a house in the winter? You should never let your home drop below 55 degrees Fahrenheit (13 degrees Celsius). Temperatures below this threshold significantly increase the risk of your water pipes freezing and bursting, which can cause catastrophic and expensive water damage to your property.

How does humidity affect how warm my house feels? Humidity plays a massive role in perceived temperature. High humidity in the summer makes the air feel hotter and stickier because your sweat cannot evaporate easily. In the winter, low humidity makes the air feel much colder than the thermostat reads. Using a humidifier in the winter to maintain indoor humidity levels between 30 and 50 percent will make a 68-degree room feel much cozier.