2025’s Best Cities for a Home With a Fireplace

Which U.S. cities are ideal for snuggling up beside a crackling fireplace?

To find the nation’s fireplace hot spots, Home Gnome ranked 2025’s Best Cities for a Home With a Fireplace.

We compared nearly 500 of the biggest U.S. cities based on 4 categories. More specifically, we looked at the share of homes with fireplaces, cold weather conditions, and access to fireplace maintenance services like chimney sweepers, among 16 total metrics.

Flicker through our ranking below. To learn how we ranked the cities, see our methodology.

In This Article

• Quick Stats
• The Leaderboard
• The Best Cities for a Home With a Fireplace
• The Worst Cities for a Home With a Fireplace
• Behind the Ranking
• Radiant Residences: Safe Fireplace Maintenance for Homeowners

Quick Stats

• Cities in cold states like Minnesota, North Dakota, and Montana score in the top half of our ranking, getting the most utility out of their fireplaces due to their frigid climates.

• Cities in other regions, like Asheville, North Carolina (No. 8), and Frederick, Maryland (No. 37), aren’t as frosty, but score near the top with great access to fireplace distributors, installers, and repair services. 

• Many Arizona and Florida cities finish near the bottom, alongside Honolulu in last place. Not only are fireplaces less practical in most of these areas, but many cities have little to no access to fireplace-related services. 

The Leaderboard

See how each city fared in our ranking:

The Best Cities for a Home With a Fireplace

• Flagstaff, Arizona (No. 1), boasts the most fireplace builders and installers, with 28 per 100,000 residents.

• Residents of Salt Lake City (No. 18) have the highest interest in fireplaces according to local Google searches, followed by Atlanta (No. 172) and Cleveland (No. 96). 

• Frederick, Maryland (No. 37), claims the best access to fireplace services and chimney sweepers when adjusted per 100,000 housing units.

Read more below.

The Worst Cities for a Home With a Fireplace

• A cord of wood is the most expensive on average in Colorado at $600. Most homeowners with a wood-burning fireplace won’t need a full cord — which is 128 cubic feet of firewood. However, if a wood stove is your primary heating source, you may need several cords to get through the winter depending on where you live. 

• A space heater might be more practical for cozying up on chilly days in Georgia, Louisiana, and Florida. Most cities in these warm states have less access to fireplace services like chimney sweepers and repairers. 

• Residents of Miramar, Florida (No. 497), have the worst access to masonry and concrete businesses when adjusted per 100,000 households, making a custom fireplace project more challenging (or expensive) to complete.

Read more below. 

Behind the Ranking

First, we determined the factors (metrics) that are most relevant to rank the Best Cities for a Home With a Fireplace. We then assigned a weight to each factor based on its importance and grouped those factors into 4 categories:

Fireplace Services and Resources	Percentage of Homes With Fireplaces
Utility	Cost and Public Interest

The categories, factors, and their weights are listed in the table below.

For each of the 500 biggest U.S. cities, we then gathered data on each factor from the sources listed below the table. We eliminated 1 city (Mountain View, California) lacking sufficient data in a single category, resulting in a final sample size of 499 cities.

Note:

• The “Worst” among individual factors may not be No. 499 due to ties.

Sources: Data Axle, Federal Emergency Management Agency, FireAndSaw, Google Ads, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, The Real Yellow Pages, Redfin, Yelp

Radiant Residences: Safe Fireplace Maintenance for Homeowners

Whether it’s used every winter or kept just for aesthetics, a fireplace can increase your home’s value. Residences for sale with fireplaces are listed for 13% more on average according to Redfin. 

However, between 2017 and 2019, home heating fires caused 165 deaths and accounted for $367 million in property damage. One leading cause of fireplace dangers is a dirty chimney — accounting for nearly one-third of house heating fires.

Fires are preventable. Whether you have a wood, gas, or electric fireplace, it’s important to have it inspected every year. Hire a chimney sweep or inspector who is certified by the National Fireplace Institute or Chimney Safety Institute of America.

Stay safe and warm and get the most out of your fireplace with help from more tips below. 

• Lower your energy bills by upgrading to a new, energy-efficient option like an EPA-certified wood stove.

• Note that some regions like the Bay Area — and soon, maybe Washington State with SB 5174 — restrict and/or regulate purchasing and using wood-burning devices.

• For homeowners without a fireplace, space heaters can be helpful for keeping warm — but use them carefully. Statistics show they are responsible for 88% of deaths caused by residential heating fires. 

• Add a cozy outdoor fireplace for some ambient warmth in your outdoor kitchen area.

• Install a fire pit to roast marshmallows over when the mood strikes.

• You may be eligible for a tax credit if you install or upgrade your heat pump.

Don’t skip your annual chimney cleaning. Use Home Gnome to hire a chimney sweep to inspect and clean your fireplace before assembling your next fire. 

About Home Gnome: Home Gnome is where you’ll find all sorts of DIY and professional help for projects around your house, rental, or apartment.

Media Resources

• High-resolution images of cities
• 2024’s Best Cities to Own a Fireplace ranking results

Main Photo Credit: rh2010 / Adobe Stock / License