The 2000s — the Aughts — saw a boom in residential air-conditioning, even as the average amount of electricity used to run each of those units dropped.
In 2001, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), an estimated 82.9 million U.S. homes, or about 77.5%, had some type of air-conditioning. By 2009, that number was an estimated 98.9 million households, or 87%, meaning an increase of 16 million in the number of households with a/c. That’s a jump of more than 19%.
During the same period, the number of housing units in the U.S. grew by an estimated 6.6 million. Assuming most newly constructed housing units included a/c, the figures suggest that millions of existing homes that lacked air conditioning in 2001 had it by the end of the decade.
Not all households used the a/c, however. The EIA estimates that 2.1 million households in 2001 and 4.9 million households in 2009 did not use their systems.
Among those that did, an average of 2,263 kWh per household were used for a/c in 2001, the EIA said. In 2009, that fell to 1,993 million kWh per household, a nearly 12% drop and a reflection, perhaps, of the greater efficiency of newer a/c equipment. (It should be noted, however, that the average June-through-August temperature in the contiguous U.S. states in 2009, 70.99°F, was the second-coolest so far this century, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.)
Central air was dominant in both years, and the proportion of households with it grew during the decade. In 2001, an estimated 69% of those households with a/c had central air, the EIA said. By 2009, that was 73%.
The EIA’s estimates are based on its Residential Energy Consumption Surveys, which are done every four or five years. The latest Residential Energy Consumption Survey was done in 2024, and the data on air-conditioning is scheduled to be released next spring.
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