Data checked · source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics
How much does an AC repair cost?
Six common AC failures, each priced from the actual part price and the actual labour time. The spread between them is enormous, and knowing which one you have is most of the answer.
There is no single AC repair price. The part that failed decides almost everything: a run capacitor is a $8.39 part and half an hour, a compressor is a $481 part and most of a day. Including a $75–$200 diagnostic call, that is roughly $116 at one end and $1,912 at the other.
Six common failures, priced separately
Part prices below are what a supply house charges today, linked so you can check them. Labour is 2 hours at a billed rate of $65–$94 an hour, derived from the US median HVAC technician wage of $29.33. Every row includes the diagnostic call.
| What failed | Part | Labour | Labour cost | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Run capacitor | $8.39–$44.97 | 0.5–1 hr | $32–$94 | $116–$339 |
| Contactor | $13.46–$21.31 | 0.5–1 hr | $32–$94 | $121–$315 |
| Condenser fan motor | $86.06–$400.00 | 1–2 hr | $65–$187 | $226–$787 |
| Refrigerant recharge (3-4 lb) | $40.00–$300.00 | 1–3 hr | $65–$281 | $180–$781 |
| Evaporator coil | $776.00–$776.00 | 2–10 hr | $130–$936 | $981–$1,912 |
| Compressor | $481.31–$481.31 | 4–8 hr | $259–$749 | $816–$1,430 |
Parts: retailer listings checked August 6, 2026, linked in the parts section below. Labour hours: HomeGuide — HVAC repair cost · This Old House — AC capacitor cost. Billed rate: FieldPricing model on BLS OEWS May 2025 wages — see methodology.
Specific products, with the price we saw
Not a recommendation and not an affiliate link. These are the listings we checked on August 6, 2026, so you can see whether the equipment line on your quote is close to retail.
Retail prices move. If one of these is wrong now, tell us and we will fix it with the date.
Parts list
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| R-410A refrigerant, 25 lb cylinder ($10.00/lb wholesale) | $250.00 |
| R-454B refrigerant, 20 lb cylinder ($24.45/lb wholesale) | $489.00–$500.00 |
What this job costs in 49 US metro areas
Materials cost roughly the same everywhere. Labour does not. The wage column is US government data; the labour column is that wage run through our published multiplier; the total applies it to the job above. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara comes out 28% higher than Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater on the same work.
| Metro area | Hvac Technician wage | Labour on this job | Estimated total |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | $39.45 | $211 | $127–$2,234 |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | $38.51 | $206 | $126–$2,204 |
| Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | $37.75 | $202 | $125–$2,180 |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | $37.73 | $201 | $125–$2,180 |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | $37.50 | $200 | $125–$2,172 |
| Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN | $37.48 | $200 | $125–$2,172 |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI | $37.25 | $199 | $125–$2,164 |
| Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT | $36.63 | $196 | $124–$2,144 |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA | $36.00 | $192 | $123–$2,124 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | $35.49 | $190 | $123–$2,108 |
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | $34.58 | $185 | $122–$2,079 |
| Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO | $34.41 | $184 | $121–$2,074 |
| Providence-Warwick, RI-MA | $32.39 | $173 | $119–$2,009 |
| Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA | $32.06 | $171 | $119–$1,999 |
| Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA | $31.38 | $168 | $118–$1,977 |
| Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD | $31.05 | $166 | $118–$1,966 |
| Columbus, OH | $30.98 | $165 | $118–$1,964 |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA | $30.92 | $165 | $118–$1,962 |
| New Orleans-Metairie, LA | $30.53 | $163 | $117–$1,950 |
| Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD | $30.38 | $162 | $117–$1,945 |
| Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI | $30.37 | $162 | $117–$1,945 |
| St. Louis, MO-IL | $30.29 | $162 | $117–$1,942 |
| Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI | $30.25 | $162 | $117–$1,941 |
| Kansas City, MO-KS | $30.14 | $161 | $117–$1,937 |
| Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN | $29.92 | $160 | $116–$1,930 |
| Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN | $29.89 | $160 | $116–$1,929 |
| Pittsburgh, PA | $29.87 | $160 | $116–$1,929 |
| Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ | $29.41 | $157 | $116–$1,914 |
| Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX | $29.24 | $156 | $116–$1,909 |
| Salt Lake City-Murray, UT | $29.23 | $156 | $116–$1,908 |
| Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN | $28.97 | $155 | $115–$1,900 |
| Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV | $28.96 | $155 | $115–$1,900 |
| Oklahoma City, OK | $28.91 | $154 | $115–$1,898 |
| Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC | $28.77 | $154 | $115–$1,894 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | $28.63 | $153 | $115–$1,889 |
| Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC | $28.59 | $153 | $115–$1,888 |
| Richmond, VA | $28.43 | $152 | $115–$1,883 |
| Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA | $28.35 | $151 | $115–$1,880 |
| Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX | $28.34 | $151 | $115–$1,880 |
| Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN | $28.33 | $151 | $115–$1,880 |
| Raleigh-Cary, NC | $28.32 | $151 | $115–$1,879 |
| San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX | $28.17 | $150 | $115–$1,875 |
| Jacksonville, FL | $28.17 | $150 | $115–$1,875 |
| Charleston-North Charleston, SC | $28.08 | $150 | $114–$1,872 |
| Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL | $27.90 | $149 | $114–$1,866 |
| Albuquerque, NM | $27.46 | $147 | $114–$1,852 |
| Memphis, TN-MS-AR | $27.30 | $146 | $114–$1,847 |
| Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL | $24.74 | $132 | $111–$1,765 |
| Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL | $24.30 | $130 | $110–$1,751 |
Wages: BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 49-9021 — public domain. Metros where BLS suppressed the figure are left out rather than estimated. Totals are FieldPricing calculations from the parts and hours on this page — they are not quotes and no contractor has agreed to them.
What did you actually pay?
Everything above this line is arithmetic on public data. It is honest, and it is not the same thing as a real invoice. If you have had this work done, the number on your invoice is worth more to the next reader than anything we can calculate.
No reports on this job yet. This site went up in August 2026 and nobody has sent one in. We would rather show you an empty table than invent entries to look established.
When reports come in, they get published here with the amount, the city and the month — never a name, never an email.
No account, no login, no newsletter. A person reads every submission before it appears, so it will not show up instantly. If we cannot make sense of one, we leave it out rather than guess — and if you would rather just email it, that works too.
What actually moves the price
Which part failed
This is the whole ballgame. A capacitor is a $10 part and half an hour. A compressor is a $481 part and most of a day. Same symptom, 50x the bill.
Warranty status
An evaporator coil under warranty runs $1,000-$2,500 installed. The same coil out of warranty runs $2,500-$4,500 or more, because you are now paying for the part as well as the labour.
Emergency and after-hours
The hourly rate roughly doubles: $75-$150 becomes $140-$250. If the failure is not dangerous, waiting until a weekday morning is real money.
Access
An evaporator coil in an accessible air handler is 2-4 hours. The same coil in an attic or a crawlspace is 5-10 hours.
Refrigerant markup
The single most inflated line item in the trade. A 25 lb cylinder that a shop buys for $250 is commonly billed at $40-$75 per pound installed.
Code requirements that cost money
These are the things an inspector will look for, and each one is a line on the invoice that a homeowner often reads as padding. Mostly it is not.
- R-410A manufacture ban — Since 1 January 2025 new residential AC and heat pump components using refrigerant with GWP of 700 or above cannot be manufactured, under the EPA AIM Act Technology Transitions rule. Source.
- The install deadline was removed — EPA finalised an amendment on 26 May 2026, effective 27 July 2026: R-410A units built before 1 January 2025 may keep being installed until stock runs out. The originally planned 1 January 2026 install ban is gone. Source.
- New York State is stricter — NY retains its own ban on new R-410A system installs. Source.
- R-454B is A2L — The replacement refrigerant is classed mildly flammable, which changes handling, storage and some equipment requirements. Source.
Code citations are to the California Plumbing and Mechanical Codes unless noted, because California publishes its handouts openly. Your jurisdiction adopts its own version of the model code — check locally before relying on any of this.
What we could not verify
We publish this list because a cost page that never admits a gap is not telling you the truth.
- The installed per-pound price of R-454B to a homeowner in 2026 — published figures conflict badly and we found none we trust.
- Labour hours specifically for a refrigerant recharge — sources price the job, not the clock.
- Whether a capacitor, contactor or fan motor swap needs a permit in a typical jurisdiction.
How we got these numbers
- Wages — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, SOC 49-9021 (Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers), pulled through the BLS public API. US federal data, public domain.
- Billed rate — wage × 1.3 labour burden × 1.70–2.45 overhead and profit, so 2.21×–3.19× the wage. Our assumption, published in full on the methodology page so you can disagree with it.
- Equipment and parts — retailer and supply-house listings, each linked above, checked 2026-08-06.
- Labour hours — HomeGuide — HVAC repair cost · This Old House — AC capacitor cost.
- Permit fees — PermitCalculator HVAC permit dataset v2026.Q1.
We do not use RSMeans or Craftsman cost data. Their licences forbid building a database from them, so every number here traces to a public source or a public listing you can open yourself.
This page is not a quote. It is arithmetic on public data. Get it in writing from a licensed contractor before you spend anything. If a number here is wrong, tell us — we log every correction with the date.