Aspects of the present invention include a method, system and computer program product that provides for improved localized self-heating analysis during IC design. The method includes a processor for modeling a power characteristic and a thermal resistance characteristic for each one of a plurality of locations within a cell that is being designed into an integrated circuit; for performing a self-heating analysis to determine an amount of heat at each one of the plurality of locations within the cell; and for creating a thermal profile for the cell, wherein the thermal profile includes a maximum self-heating value for each of the plurality of locations within the cell and includes an average self-heating value for the cell, and wherein the maximum self-heating value and the average self-heating value are derived from the determined amount of heat at each one of the plurality of locations within the cell.