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Methane leaks from oil and gas installations have attracted increasing attention in recent years, and efforts are underway to plug thousands of inactive, methane-spewing oil and gas wells across the country. But less research has been done on emissions inside residences, said Rob Jackson, an earth scientist at Stanford University who worked on the new study.

Dr. Lebel, Dr. Jackson and two co-authors used plastic sheets to seal off kitchens in private homes, Airbnb rentals and properties for sale or rent. They found that on average, igniting a burner on a gas stove emitted about the same amount of methane as did leaving it on and burning for 10 minutes. Gas ovens emitted methane at a higher rate than cooktop burners, they found, because ovens periodically ignite and extinguish their main burner to maintain the set temperature.

The researchers also measured emissions over five-to-10-minute periods when stoves were off, though they did not try to pinpoint the sources of these leaks.

“It’s almost an inevitable byproduct of the natural gas supply chain,” Dr. Jackson said. “Every coupling, every fitting, has the potential to leak, especially over time as the stoves sit there for years.”

None of the gas leaks the researchers measured were of a concentration that might lead to explosions, Dr. Lebel said.

The researchers found that when it came to methane emissions, older stoves did not perform differently from newer ones. Nor did pricier models outperform cheaper ones.