Contents
- Dehumidifier market statistics: U.S. household use by state
- Dehumidifier market statistics: portable and whole-home shipments
- Dehumidifier market statistics: portable capacity mix and efficiency shares
- Dehumidifier market statistics: whole-home capacity and manufacturers
- Dehumidifier market statistics: modeled consumer costs and payback
- dehumidifier market: Dehumidifier standards scenarios and industry outlook
- Sources
Dehumidifier market statistics: U.S. household use by state
EIA’s 2020 Residential Energy Consumption Survey counted dehumidifier use in primary occupied U.S. housing units. It estimated 20.53 million of 123.53 million such homes used a dehumidifier, or 17%. These are household-use estimates, not counts of appliances shipped, sold, or owned. The survey excludes vacant, seasonal, and second homes, military housing, and group quarters. Source: EIA, Highlights for air conditioning in U.S. homes by state, 2020
| State or area | Primary occupied housing units (millions) | Using a dehumidifier (millions) | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| All homes | 123.53 | 20.53 | 17% |
| Pennsylvania | 5.13 | 1.74 | 34% |
| Ohio | 4.74 | 1.40 | 30% |
| Illinois | 4.90 | 1.26 | 26% |
| Michigan | 3.92 | 1.34 | 34% |
| Wisconsin | 2.39 | 1.07 | 45% |
| Florida | 8.06 | 0.68 | 8% |
| New York | 7.52 | 1.94 | 26% |
| Massachusetts | 2.71 | 0.91 | 33% |
| Minnesota | 2.23 | 0.96 | 43% |
Source for all rows: EIA, 2020 state table, pages 1–2.
The listed state estimates show substantial variation in reported household use: Wisconsin is 45%, Minnesota 43%, and Florida 8%. Pennsylvania and Michigan each show 34%; Massachusetts is 33%, Ohio 30%, and Illinois and New York each 26%. These percentages describe the share of primary occupied housing units in each state that used a dehumidifier in 2020. They do not establish why use differs. EIA cautions that state differences may not be statistically significant; it suppresses estimates when relative standard error exceeds 50% or fewer than 10 households were sampled. Source: EIA, Highlights for air conditioning in U.S. homes by state, 2020
Dehumidifier market statistics: portable and whole-home shipments
DOE’s 2023 proposed-rule analysis describes a market dominated by portable units. Its shipment distribution assigns 98% of shipments to portable dehumidifiers and 2% to whole-home products. The footnote identifies this as the 2022 shipment distribution under the no-new-standards case, referenced as the current distribution in the analysis. DOE uses manufacturer shipments as a proxy for national sales because aggregate sales data are lacking. Source: DOE, Energy Conservation Standards for Dehumidifiers, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, printed p. 186 and footnote 70
The shares in DOE’s analysis reflect different estimates and vintages. For its June 2022 preliminary analysis, DOE assumed whole-home products represented 1% of total shipments. Manufacturer feedback for 2022 put that share at 1.6%, which DOE included in the NOPR analysis. The later shipment narrative reports 2% for whole-home products in the 2022 no-new-standards distribution. These figures should be read as successive modeling inputs or estimates, not as a measured year-by-year growth series. Source: DOE, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, printed p. 91, section G, “Shipments Analysis,” and p. 186, footnote 70
A separate program measure comes from ENERGY STAR’s calendar-year 2023 report. Certified dehumidifier shipments were 2,343 thousand units, with estimated market penetration of 94%. ENERGY STAR defines penetration as the ratio of certified product shipments to total U.S. product shipments. This program estimate is not the same measure as DOE’s shipment composition or the efficiency-level estimates DOE cites for earlier years. Source: ENERGY STAR, Unit Shipment and Market Penetration Report: Calendar Year 2023 Summary, p. 5
Dehumidifier market statistics: portable capacity mix and efficiency shares
Within DOE’s 2022 portable shipment distribution, 73% of shipments were units rated above 25.0 and at or below 50.0 pints per day. Units at or below 25.0 pints per day accounted for 26%, and units above 50.0 pints per day made up the remaining 1%. These are shares of portable shipments, not of all dehumidifier shipments. Source: DOE, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, printed p. 186 and footnote 70
DOE’s 2028 no-new-standards case models a different capacity distribution. The product-class market shares are 19.5% for units rated at or below 25.00 pints per day, 77.9% for 25.01–50.00 pints per day, and 1.1% for at least 50.01 pints per day. This is a modeled projection, not an observed shipment result. Source: DOE, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, printed p. 89, Table IV.5
| Portable capacity class | Modeled 2028 class share | Efficiency level and IEF | Share within class |
|---|---|---|---|
| ≤25.00 pints/day | 19.5% | EL 2; 1.57 L/kWh | 66% |
| 25.01–50.00 pints/day | 77.9% | EL 2; 1.80 L/kWh | 87% |
| ≥50.01 pints/day | 1.1% | EL 0; 2.80 L/kWh | 86% |
All values: DOE’s 2028 no-new-standards case, Table IV.5, printed p. 89. Class shares apply to portable product classes; efficiency shares are within each class. DOE source
DOE also cites the historical share of the market meeting ENERGY STAR levels: 80% in 2019, 88% in 2020, and 94% in 2021. These are DOE-cited efficiency distribution figures. They are separate from ENERGY STAR’s 2023 certified-shipment penetration estimate, which uses a program shipment ratio. Source: DOE, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, printed p. 87
Dehumidifier market statistics: whole-home capacity and manufacturers
For 2022, DOE’s shipment analysis says whole-home products with case volume at or below 8.0 cubic feet accounted for 85% of whole-home shipments. In its 2028 no-new-standards scenario, the modeled whole-home product-class shares are 1.2% for units at or below 8.0 cubic feet and 0.3% for units above 8.0 cubic feet. The modeled shares use the broader market product-class framing in Table IV.6; the 85% figure is specifically a share of whole-home shipments. Source: DOE, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, printed pp. 89 and 186
In DOE’s 2028 scenario, efficiency level 2 for the ≤8.0-cubic-foot class has an Integrated Energy Factor (IEF) of 2.22 L/kWh and a 74% share within that class. For units above 8.0 cubic feet, efficiency level 0 has an IEF of 2.41 L/kWh and a 54% within-class share. Source: DOE, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, printed p. 89, Table IV.6
DOE considered 15 portable original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in its 2023 analysis; none offered a model meeting the analysis’s max-tech efficiency level. For whole-home products, DOE estimated approximately 3% of shipments in the current base analyzed met max-tech efficiency. These are findings from the rulemaking analysis, not a complete count of all manufacturers or a later market census. Source: DOE, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, printed p. 188
Dehumidifier market statistics: modeled consumer costs and payback
DOE’s consumer tables report modeled costs in 2022 dollars. They are not observed retail prices. For portable Product Class 2, rated 25.01–50.00 pints per day, the baseline installed cost is $315 and first-year operating cost is $112. At efficiency level 3, the modeled IEF is 2.01 L/kWh, installed cost is $327, and first-year operating cost is $91. Relative to the baseline, the modeled simple payback is 0.6 years. The same level has average life-cycle cost savings of $81 for affected consumers, while DOE estimates 0% would experience net cost. Source: DOE, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, printed p. 139, Tables V.4–V.5
The modeled comparison differs for larger portable units. For Product Class 3, above 50.00 pints per day, the baseline installed cost is $1,043 and first-year operating cost is $88. At efficiency level 4, the simple payback relative to baseline is 11.2 years. These figures belong to DOE’s model and should not be generalized to every model, household, or current purchase. Source: DOE, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, printed p. 139, Table V.6
For whole-home Product Class 4, with case volume at or below 8.0 cubic feet, DOE’s baseline installed cost is $2,733 and first-year operating cost is $144. At efficiency level 2, the modeled simple payback is 6.4 years and average life-cycle cost savings are $56 in 2022 dollars. DOE estimates 8% of affected consumers would experience net cost at that level. Source: DOE, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, printed p. 140, Tables V.8–V.9
For Product Class 5, above 8.0 cubic feet, the baseline installed cost is $2,734 and first-year operating cost is $115. The modeled simple payback for efficiency level 2 is 2.9 years. This is a separate product class and estimate from the ≤8.0-cubic-foot whole-home results. Source: DOE, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, printed p. 141, Table V.10
dehumidifier market: Dehumidifier standards scenarios and industry outlook
DOE’s proposed TSL 3 scenario includes annualized modeled consumer operating-cost savings of $157.99 million per year at a 3% discount rate, in 2022 dollars. Its annual net benefits are $215.24 million at 3% and $190.89 million at 7%. The estimates cover products shipped from 2028 through 2057; they are scenario results, not realized market savings. Source: DOE, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, printed p. 17, Table I.4
For the same TSL 3 scenario, DOE estimates cumulative consumer-benefit net present value at $2.61 billion at a 3% discount rate over 30 years of shipments, 2028–2057. Separately, DOE projects average dehumidifier prices in 2057 to be 25% lower than in 2028. Both figures are model outputs over stated periods, not price or benefit observations. Source: DOE, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, printed p. 97 and p. 161, Table V.23
The rulemaking also models industry outcomes under different standards cases. In the no-new-standards case, DOE estimates 72 domestic production and non-production industry workers in 2028. Its no-new-standards free cash flow estimate is $12.6 million in 2027, in 2022 dollars, and industry INPV is $158.3 million for the 2023–2057 modeled analysis period. INPV is a net present value measure, not annual revenue. Source: DOE, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, printed pp. 150 and 160, Table V.18
Under TSL 4, DOE projects shipments 23% below the no-new-standards case in 2028, the modeled year the standard would take effect. It estimates manufacturer conversion costs of $53.1 million for capital and $20.9 million for products, totaling $73.9 million, all in 2022 dollars. These are modeled effects of a standards scenario, not observed declines or incurred costs. Source: DOE, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, printed pp. 187 and 189
ENERGY STAR’s calendar-year 2023 report adds a reporting-coverage measure: 81% of dehumidifier program partners submitted data, out of 83 partners required to respond. The response rate describes partner reporting, not product-market penetration. DOE also interviewed manufacturers representing approximately 52% of industry shipments for its 2023 rulemaking analysis. Together, these measures describe data and interview coverage alongside modeled scenarios; neither is a direct market-size or revenue series. Sources: ENERGY STAR, 2023 Summary, p. 3; DOE, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, printed p. 108, section J.3