AC Installation Cost: What the Job Really Runs in 2026

What ac installation cost actually covers on a ducted system

This page prices one job. A ducted central air changeout on a house that already has ductwork. A duct replacement or a new furnace is a different job.

Two things move it more than anything else. Tonnage sets the equipment price. The federal efficiency floor sets what you may legally install where the house sits.

Equipment by tonnage: what the boxes post

The AC Outlet, read September 14, 2026. Each row is a factory matched pair, condenser plus its CAPFA coil and expansion valve, sold as one line. SEER2 rates that combination, not the condenser alone.

Coil family is not a detail. The seller states a GSXN4 matches only Goodman AMST, AWST and AVPTC air handlers or CAPFA coils, and will not work with ARUF or ASPT. Order the set.

SimplyWise Cost Estimator turns a photo of the existing equipment into one branded quote you can edit.

The federal efficiency floor decides what you may install

This is what catches crews who buy on price. Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, section 430.32, sets a hard minimum by manufacture date and by region.

Split system air conditioners built on or after January 1, 2023 must rate at least 13.4 SEER2. Install in the southeast or southwest and the floor climbs. It is 14.3 SEER2 below 45,000 Btu per hour, 13.8 SEER2 at or above. The southwest adds an EER2 floor of 11.7, or 9.8 at 15.2 SEER2 and better.

Southwest means Arizona, California, Nevada and New Mexico. Southeast covers sixteen states, Hawaii among them, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Territories.

Why this stock is cheap, and why that ends

Every set above is R-410A, and the seller calls the GSXN4 line available in very limited quantities. A second supplier lists the same models as discontinued. This is closeout pricing on a refrigerant being phased down. Confirm the set is still sellable before you sign.

Labor is a wage, not a billing rate

The federal wage survey for May 2025 covers 409,670 HVAC mechanics and installers. Hourly median $29.33, mean $31.14, 25th percentile $23.25, 75th $37.05, 90th $45.78.

That survey skips the self employed. These are wages an employer pays. Burden, vehicle, overhead and margin sit on top. Our hourly rate breakdown by trade walks that gap.

A three ton changeout, priced from stated inputs

Worked illustration off stated inputs, from the figures above and nothing else. Existing ductwork, existing pad, no electrical upgrade.

That is not a bid. Line set, pad, disconnect, thermostat, refrigerant and permit sit outside it, and so does burden, overhead and margin.

What we will not price, and why

Four figures were cut, not guessed.

• Line set, pad and disconnect. Sutherlands lists the Cutler-Hammer pullout disconnects as no longer stocked, and its DiversiTech pad returned no price.
• An installed price by the ton. Every figure we could reach traces to a lead aggregator cost guide, which is not a price authority.
• Rebates and credits. Manufacturer rebates, utility rebates and the federal tax credit are real. None is a price. Nothing here is netted against one.
• A second live price. Two sellers were checked. Only one displays a price you can buy today, so the table is one publisher on live stock.

Build an ac installation cost estimate in this order

1. Confirm the tonnage before you price anything

   Load calculation first, nameplate second. Never carry the old size forward.

2. Check the regional efficiency floor for the address

   13.4 SEER2 nationally. It is 14.3 or 13.8 SEER2 in the southeast and southwest.

3. Order the factory matched set, not two part numbers

   A Goodman GSXN4 matches CAPFA coils, never CAPTA.

4. Add the hours at your loaded rate, never at the wage

   The federal median wage of $29.33 is payroll. It is not what you charge.