My state (NY) is pushing heat pumps pretty heavily. They can work down to lower temperatures for sure. We were debating on doing a heat pump for primary , but the cost to retrofit the electric resistive backup is where the costs went crazy. The house already has central air (or had, replacing it in the spring) so running the heat pump wasn't a big deal. Upgrading the electric to handle the resistive heating is where things really got crazy for costs.
The other issue is - while we're not rural, our power goes out a lot. I can run a furnace on a portable generator, my 7500w generator would struggle to run a condenser. As it is now , when the power goes out we have to fall back to a window unit.
Ended up going with converting to gas. Then in the spring we might do a supplemental heat pump when we install the central air. Not sure.
