How much firewood by state / New England
NOAA 1991-2020 normals · checked 2026-10-20
How much firewood for a Maine winter?
A 2,000 sq ft house built in the 1970s and heated only with wood burns about 5.8 cords in a normal Maine winter (17.4 face cords of 16-inch wood). Maine averages 7,758 heating degree days a year, the #6 coldest of the 48 states NOAA covers here, 43% above the median state.
- 1Cords per winter 5.8 cords
- 2Face cords (16 in) 17.4
- 3Degree days 7,758
- 4At the state price $2,065
Cords per winter in Maine by house size and age
The table uses a generic cord (20 million Btu, the EIA figure) burned in a 74% efficient stove, with wood as the only heat. House age stands in for insulation and air-tightness: it sets how much heat a home of that era used per square foot per degree day in the federal Residential Energy Consumption Survey.
| Floor area | Built 1990 or later | 1970s | Before 1950 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 sq ft | 2.0 | 2.9 | 3.7 |
| 1,500 sq ft | 3.0 | 4.4 | 5.6 |
| 2,000 sq ft | 4.0 | 5.8 | 7.4 |
| 2,500 sq ft | 5.0 | 7.3 | 9.3 |
Maine is one of the ten coldest states here, so even a newer house needs a real woodpile: 4.0 cords for 2,000 sq ft built since 1990, and 7.4 cords for the same floor area built before 1950. A small, newer home of 1,200 sq ft gets by on 2.4 cords. If the stove only supplements a furnace and supplies about half the heat, the example house needs 2.9 cords.
A cold winter versus a mild one
Thirty years of NOAA data show how much a single winter can swing. Maine's coldest year was 1992 with 8,363 degree days and its mildest was 2010 with 6,885, a spread of 19% of the average. For the example house that is the difference between 6.3 and 5.2 cords, so buying 0.5 cords more than the average year covers a winter like 1992. The last decade (2011–2020) averaged 7,613 degree days, 4% fewer than the first (1991–2000, 7,927).
Which wood, and what it costs
Dense hardwood shrinks the pile. For the example house in Maine:
- Hickory (29.3 million Btu per cord): 4.0 cords
- Red oak (25.9 million Btu per cord): 4.5 cords
- White pine (15 million Btu per cord): 7.8 cords
Maine publishes a cord price. Maine Governor's Energy Office, 2025-2026 Heating Season Weekly Fuel Prices (September 21, 2026) lists $355 a cord as of September 21, 2026 (seasoned wood, minimum 2-cord purchase, local delivery included; informal survey of dealers across the state). At that price the example house's 5.8 cords cost about $2,065 a winter, or $1,032 if wood supplies half the heat. Heat delivered by a 74% stove from a generic cord works out to $23.99 per million Btu. The same survey priced heating oil at $6.02 a gallon ($43.41 per million Btu in the fuel) and bagged pellets at $357 a ton ($21.64 per million Btu); the wood versus pellet guide compares them.
What size stove for Maine?
From its average-winter use, the example house loses about 30,049 BTU/h on a 0°F night (an estimate, not a room-by-room heat-loss calculation). 6 stoves listed here are rated by their makers for 2,000 sq ft, and all of them publish an output at or above that figure, for example the Pacific Energy Super LE (72,000 BTU/h). Makers rate area for an open, reasonably insulated layout; a chopped-up floor plan or a leaky older house needs more. See stove sizes for 1,200 to 2,000 sq ft or pick your own floor area on the stove size chart. Have the chimney swept and inspected every year (U.S. Fire Administration); the chimney guide explains why.
Nearby states
Vermont averages 8,058 degree days (6.0 cords for the example house); New Hampshire averages 7,449 degree days (5.6 cords for the example house); Massachusetts averages 6,132 degree days (4.6 cords for the example house); Connecticut averages 5,849 degree days (4.4 cords for the example house); Rhode Island averages 5,761 degree days (4.3 cords for the example house).
Degree days: NOAA NCEI Climate at a Glance, Maine January-December Heating Degree Days (base 65°F), 1991-2020, checked 2026-10-20. Heat per square foot: EIA RECS 2001, Table CE2-2c; furnace efficiency used to turn that gas into heat: 78% (10 CFR 430.32). Full method on the methodology page. Estimates only; a house's real use depends on its insulation, air leaks, layout and how warm it is kept.