What Temperature Should You Set Your Thermostat in Winter?

What temperature should I set my thermostat in winter? For most homes, 68°F while you’re home and awake is the best place to start. Lower it by 7 to 10 degrees while you sleep or while the house is empty, and if you leave for a few days, don’t set it below 55°F so your pipes don’t freeze.

Those numbers work for a gas or oil furnace. Heat pumps, radiant floors and steam heat need smaller changes, and some people (older adults and babies in particular) need a warmer home. This guide explains each setting and why it works.

The Short Answer

Here’s the short answer to “what temperature should I set my thermostat in winter?” for each situation.

Situation	Thermostat setting	Why
Home and awake	68°F (68-70°F)	The Department of Energy’s starting point for comfort and cost
Asleep	60-65°F	7-10 degrees lower saves energy, and most people sleep better cool
Out for the day (4+ hours)	60-62°F	The same 7-10 degree setback while the house is empty
Away for several days	55°F minimum, 60°F with pets or plants	Keeps the pipes from freezing
Heat pump	2-3 degrees lower at most	Bigger changes can turn on expensive backup heat
Older adults at home	At least 68°F	Cooler homes can cause hypothermia

---

Why 68°F Is the Best Thermostat Setting for Winter

The 68°F figure comes from the U.S. Department of Energy, whose Energy Saver advice is to set the thermostat to around 68°F to 70°F while you’re awake in winter and lower it while you’re asleep or away. It isn’t a magic number: it’s the point where most people are comfortable in normal indoor clothes, without heating the house more than they need.

That’s why it’s the best thermostat setting for winter as a starting point, not as a rule. Every degree above it makes the furnace run longer, because the warmer your house is compared to the outside, the faster it loses heat. If 68°F feels cold, try 69°F or 70°F before you go higher, and wear a sweater at home before you change the setting.

Some people need more heat, not less. The National Institute on Aging tells older adults to set the heat to at least 68°F, and warns that even a mildly cool home of 60 to 65°F can lead to hypothermia in older people. If an older relative lives with you, keep the setting at 68°F or higher during the day and don’t use deep setbacks at night. Our guide to the best thermostats for seniors covers models that let family check the temperature and get an alert when the house gets too cold.

The opposite limit is also useful to know. The World Health Organization uses 64°F (18°C) as the minimum indoor temperature for healthy adults in cold weather, with warmer homes for vulnerable people. So for a healthy adult, a home between 64°F and 70°F is a reasonable range while you’re up and about.

One detail people often forget: the thermostat only knows the temperature where it hangs. If it sits near a window, an outside door, a heat vent or in direct sun, the rest of the house can be a few degrees warmer or colder than the screen shows. The Department of Energy recommends an interior wall away from sunlight, drafts, doorways and windows.

---

How Much to Lower It at Night and While You’re Out

The biggest savings come from lowering the temperature when nobody needs the heat. The Department of Energy says you can save as much as 10% a year on heating and cooling by turning the thermostat back 7 to 10 degrees for 8 hours a day. The savings are bigger in milder climates than in very cold ones.

At night. Dropping from 68°F to somewhere between 60°F and 65°F while you sleep covers most of those 8 hours. It’s also good for sleep: the Sleep Foundation puts the best bedroom temperature at about 65°F and says most doctors recommend 65 to 68°F. If 60°F is too cold for you, 64°F or 65°F with a warmer blanket still saves energy. Heating also dries the air (our guide to what the humidity should be in your house has the winter levels), so if the bedroom feels dry in winter, see our guide to the best smart humidifiers.

For a baby’s room, the American Academy of Pediatrics doesn’t give a number. Its advice is to keep the room at a temperature that’s comfortable for a lightly clothed adult and to avoid overheating. The Sleep Foundation suggests a degree or two warmer than for adults, up to about 69°F.

During the day. If the house is empty for four hours or more, the Department of Energy says it makes sense to lower the temperature for that time. A setback to 60-62°F while everyone is at work or school is the same 7 to 10 degrees.

Two common beliefs stop people from doing this, and both are wrong.

• “Heating the house back up uses more energy than you saved.” It doesn’t. A cooler house loses heat to the outside more slowly, so the longer it stays cooler, the more energy you save. The Department of Energy calls this a common misconception.
• “Turning the thermostat way up heats the house faster.” A furnace puts out heat at the same rate whatever the setting. A higher number only makes it run longer, so you overshoot and pay for heat you didn’t want.

With a gas or oil furnace, you can use the full 7 to 10 degrees. If you have a heat pump, read the heat pump section below first.

---

What Temperature to Set Your Thermostat When Away in Winter

For a weekend or a longer trip, the goal changes. You aren’t thinking about comfort anymore, just about protecting the house. The American Red Cross says that if you’re going away during cold weather, you should leave the heat on, set no lower than 55°F. Honeywell suggests 55 to 60°F, and closer to 60°F if you have houseplants or an aquarium. To get an alert if the house gets colder than that while you’re away, see our guide to the best WiFi temperature sensors and freeze alarms. And if a pipe does burst while you’re gone, one of the best smart water shut-off valves can close the main line on its own.

So for the question of what temperature to set the thermostat when away in winter, 55°F is the floor. Go up to 60°F if:

• Pets stay at home with a sitter, or you have plants or fish.
• Your home has water pipes on exterior walls, in a crawl space or in an unheated garage.
• Your home is older or drafty, so some rooms get much colder than the room with the thermostat.

Never turn the heat off completely. A few more things help while you’re gone:

• Open the cabinet doors under the kitchen and bathroom sinks, so warm air reaches the pipes.
• Skip the setback during a hard freeze. In very cold weather, the Red Cross advises keeping the same temperature day and night. A higher bill costs less than a burst pipe.
• Check your thermostat’s safety setting. A Nest thermostat has Safety Temperatures that turn the heat on even when the thermostat is set to Off, so a mistake in the app can’t let the house freeze.
• Add a water leak sensor under the sinks and near the water heater. If a pipe does burst, you get an alert on your phone instead of finding the damage when you get home. Some (Ring, YoLink and Moen, for example) also warn you when a room gets cold enough for pipes to freeze. Our guide to the best water leak detectors compares options for Alexa, Google Home and Apple Home.

If your thermostat lets you change the temperature from your phone, raise it a few hours before you head home so the house is warm when you arrive.

---

Heat Pumps, Radiant Floors and Steam Need Smaller Setbacks

The 7 to 10 degree advice assumes a furnace that can heat the house back up quickly. Three types of heating don’t work that way.

Heat pumps. The Department of Energy warns that setting back a heat pump in heating mode can make it run inefficiently and cancel out the savings, so a moderate, steady setting is usually the cheapest option. The reason is aux heat: when you raise the temperature by more than a couple of degrees, the thermostat may turn on the backup heat (usually electric heat strips) to catch up. Google estimates that aux heat can cost about 2 to 5 times as much as the heat pump itself. Our guide to what aux heat is and when it turns on explains this in detail.

With a heat pump, keep setbacks to 2 or 3 degrees, or leave the temperature steady overnight. The exception is a thermostat built for heat pumps, which raises the temperature slowly and keeps the backup heat off. Nest’s Heat Pump Balance and ecobee’s aux heat settings both do this, and our list of the best thermostats for heat pumps compares the options.

Radiant floors and steam heat. These systems take a long time to heat up (the Department of Energy says up to several hours), so a deep setback can leave you cold all morning. Use a smaller setback, or schedule the heat to come back on two or three hours before you wake up or get home. A thermostat that learns how long your system takes to heat up does this for you.

---

Let a Smart Thermostat Handle the Schedule

All of this only saves money if the setbacks actually happen every day. That’s the main job of a smart or programmable thermostat: you set the temperatures once and it changes them on schedule, so you don’t have to remember at 11 p.m. A permanent hold turns those setbacks off, so make sure yours isn’t stuck on one (our guide to what hold means on a thermostat explains how to tell).

A few features help in winter:

• Away modes. A Nest thermostat switches to its Eco Temperatures when it senses everyone has left, and ecobee thermostats have a similar Away setting. Google’s example: if you like 70°F at home, a well-insulated house that heats quickly can use an Eco Temperature of 56°F, while a drafty house that heats slowly is better at 62°F. In a rental or a shared house, our guide to the best thermostat lock boxes and locking thermostats shows how to keep the setting within a range you choose.
• Preheating. Nest’s Early-On and ecobee’s Pre-Heat (previously called Smart Recovery) learn how long your home takes to warm up and start the heat early, so it’s 68°F when your alarm goes off, not an hour later.
• Room sensors. A remote sensor lets the thermostat use the bedroom temperature at night and the living room temperature during the day, which helps if those rooms are never the same. See our guide to the best thermostats with remote sensors.

How much you save depends on your home and climate. We looked at the numbers in do smart thermostats save money, and if you’re choosing one, our best smart thermostats guide compares the main models.

---

Conclusion

So, what temperature should I set my thermostat in winter? Start at 68°F while you’re home and awake, and adjust a degree or two until you’re comfortable. Lower it 7 to 10 degrees while you sleep or while the house is empty, which can save as much as 10% a year. When you travel, don’t go below 55°F (60°F with pets or plants), and skip the setbacks during a hard freeze. With a heat pump, radiant floors or steam heat, use smaller setbacks, and keep the house at 68°F or warmer if an older adult lives with you.