Outside of Alaska, which areas in the US don’t use A/C in summer on a regular basis?

35 comments

1. Northern Michigan here, I only used AC for a few days last year.

   When I lived in Seattle for 5 years our house didn’t have AC.

2. I only use it occasionally in Northern Vermont, but it’s an absolute necessity when needed.

3. I live in Upstate NY right next to the Canadian border. My house doesn’t use air conditioning at all. It rarely hits above 85 F (29.5 C) up here during summer.

4. AC isn’t really standard in San Francisco and Oakland homes. The more inland areas of the bay area get a good deal warmer in the summer though and AC is more common.

   I’ve lived in seven apartments in Oakland or Berkeley and none had AC.

5. I think most of the US still gets hot in the summer.

   Like I’m in Central Maine, one of the farthest north states and it still gets hot and humid here and we end up using AC in July and August usually.

   Though I’m sure this also depends a bit on people’s heat tolerance levels.

6. Many people in Oregon and Washington don’t have A/C – which was deadly when they had the 2021 heat wave where it got to nearly 120 F.

7. In western Montana you may have a stretch of 90 degree weather, maybe it will hit 100 once or twice, but at night it will cool off down to 60. You can just open your windows at night and close them during the day. About when its starting to get too stuffy it will be cooling off again.

   People still HAVE AC in Montana, you just don’t absolutely NEED it.

8. My brother lives in Seattle and doesn’t have A/C. It’s been a bit of a challenge with those bizarre triple digit days the last couple of years.

9. Lots of New England only uses AC briefly and a lot of apartments are old and don’t have central AC.

   The Pacific Northwest often doesn’t have AC or use it much if they do.

10. Northern Michigan, specifically the U.P.

    I dont think I’ve ever been hot in the U.P., in fact the first time I visited was in July and I could see my breath in the mornings

11. I don’t have AC in Seattle, and haven’t needed it except during one particularly extreme heatwave a couple years ago.

12. My brother said his house in Hawaii didn’t even have an AC.

13. Upstate NY, 45 miles west of Albany. I live on a hill (1800 ft) in the woods with a stream in my backyard, don’t have AC, only fans. If it’s too hot during the day, it gives me an excuse to hang out in the screened porch and sip cold drinks. Hate AC, love open windows.

14. I don’t have AC in my Seattle home, and aside from the 2021 heat wave have never wished I had it.

15. My first place in LA in Hollywood didn’t have AC, and it’s still pretty common for people to only have a portable AC or window unit. It’s been getting hotter, though, so it’s not as easy anymore. Also, over by the beach, it’s a lot easier not to have AC.

16. About half of Boston schools don’t have AC (and same with schools throughout the state).

    Wouldn’t seem like a big deal, but many of them are brick buildings with windows that don’t open or don’t open very widely. They really heat up.

    It’s not unusual in June for teachers to ask for fans because it’s 90 degrees in the classroom with no breeze.

    When I was a kid and it hit 90 inside, we’d go outside to have class because it wasn’t so stuffy.

    With climate change, there’s been a few times school has been called off. It can be really hard on kids with asthma, etc.

17. I stayed at a vacation rental in Massachusetts and it didn’t have AC. Didn’t need it either. I also stayed with a friend in Seattle a few years ago, her apartment didn’t have AC but at the time it badly needed it because they were going through an insane heat wave. Very uncomfortable.

18. I live in northern Vermont at a little bit of elevation, and I might have to turn on the AC a total of 14-21 days durinf the summer. I can usually turn it off at night and sleep comfortably.

    Don’t ask about my heating bill in the winter, though.

19. CO mountain towns very rarely need to use AC same with parts of WY. I never had AC in WY but I didn’t live in the basins. I can imagine higher parts of UT, ID and MT are similar.

20. When I went to Appalachian State in Boone NC, none of the apartments had air conditioning. None of the dorms where I lived had it.

21. Not standard in places in Oregon and Washington. However, I’m hoping that changes. In 2021, we had a heat dome. Three days of above 110′. The record was 114 or 116. I forget; same difference. Many people died.

22. If your overnight lows are frequently in the 50 degree territory, and 70 degree lows are signs of a heat wave, housing stock might not use AC.

    Apartments probably should depending on the design. Some are small airless greenhouses.

    I have a Facebook memory that pops up every summer, I was suffering 72 degree temperature at 2AM, lol.

    Seattle, WA. I suggest to live in a house with a basement or get AC. Heat pumps are now require building code for newly built homes in Washington state

23. there was a heatwave last year and in 2021 in the Pacific Northwest and I remember hearing that a lot of houses there are built with AC because you basically always have cool air rolling in off the pacific.

24. I grew up around 9,000 ft above sea level in the Colorado mountains. Vast stretches’ of the mountains do not have A/C as it stays cool enough most of the time. But places like Denver do because it can get sweltering there in the summer.

25. Upstate New York stays pretty mild year round, below 20 is rare and above 80 is the same story

26. Don’t have AC here in CA

27. Most homes in Hawaii from what I’ve seen don’t bother with any climate control at all. Maybe a mini split heat pump at most.

28. Most places in Seattle don’t have AC installed

29. As an Alaskan, I can promise you that the need for A/C in the summer has grown over the last few years. There are also some places in the interior that do use AC.

    For example, Fairbanks has some of the largest temperature swings in the world. It can be -40 in the winter and 90 in the summer. When the sun is up from 3AM and doesn’t go below the horizon until aft 1AM, that heat can become intolerable.

30. It’s not typical to see central AC in homes in Maine, but we do use window AC every summer. Some people dont and suffer through. My in laws refuse to for some reason and their house in the summer is the worst.

31. Northern states such as Michigan don’t usually have A/C in most homes.

    Edit : removed Wisconsin. I lived in Michigan for 3 years and most didn’t have A/C. Maybe a window unit but that’s it.

32. Costal California, north of around Santa Barbara and all the way up. It’s windy and cool all summer, more or less.

33. Hawaii. Not only are there homes with no AC, but they had cars with no AC too, which surprised me most.

34. Most coastal areas on the West Coast have many homes without AC. Between morning fog and sea breezes, it only ever gets really hot there during a major heat wave, and even then it’s usually because of Santa Ana winds.

    Depending on the geography, the climate can change a lot in short distances though. It can be a comfortable 74 degrees F in Venice Beach, 85 in downtown LA, and 95 in Woodland Hills at the same time. And all three of those places are within about 20 minutes of each other. You often don’t need to go very far inland before AC becomes necessary.

35. Mountains of NC