Boston / Acton
Acton is about 24 miles from the Census center point for Boston in a straight line and covers 19.867 square miles of land (Census 2024 Gazetteer internal points and land area, https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/gazetteer/2024_Gazetteer/, checked 2026-10-19).
Acton has 24,155 residents (give or take 34) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B01003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B01003?g=060XX00US2501700380, checked 2026-10-19), about 1,216 people per square mile.
The quote form takes a ZIP code; for Acton that is 01718, 01720 (Census 2020 ZCTA to county subdivision relationship file, ZIP areas at least 20% inside the town, https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/rel2020/zcta520/tab20_zcta520_cousub20_natl.txt, checked 2026-10-19).
Of the 9,409 occupied homes in Acton, 52% heat with natural gas, 24% with heating oil, 19% with electricity and 4% with propane (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=060XX00US2501700380, checked 2026-10-19).
Acton has 6 points more oil heat than Middlesex County as a whole, where 18% of homes burn oil, and 1 points more electric heat than the county's 18% (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=050XX00US25017, checked 2026-10-19).
Gas leads in Acton at 52%, but 28% of homes still burn delivered oil or propane, and those 2,635 or so homes are where a heat pump pays back fastest.
The median Acton home was built in 1974 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25035, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25035?g=060XX00US2501700380, checked 2026-10-19) and the median home has 6.8 rooms (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25018, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25018?g=060XX00US2501700380, checked 2026-10-19).
Acton has 9,575 housing units, 9% built before 1940 and 61% before 1980, with 17% built in 2000 or later (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=060XX00US2501700380, checked 2026-10-19).
Acton has 23 points fewer pre-1940 homes than Middlesex County as a whole (32%) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=050XX00US25017, checked 2026-10-19).
Only 17% of Acton homes are new enough to pass the whole-home rebate's weatherization check on age, and 9% date from before 1940, so most of the other 83% show it with a home energy assessment before the heat pump goes in.
63% of Acton homes are single-family detached, 4% are in two- to four-unit buildings and 24% are in buildings of five or more units (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=060XX00US2501700380, checked 2026-10-19).
25% of Acton homes are rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=060XX00US2501700380, checked 2026-10-19), so beside the 63% detached houses there is a real share of jobs where the landlord, not the resident, signs the quote.
Acton has 17 points more detached houses than Middlesex County overall (46%) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=050XX00US25017, checked 2026-10-19).
Eversource Energy lists Acton among the Massachusetts communities it serves for electricity (Eversource Energy communities we serve, https://www.eversource.com/residential/services/communities-we-serve, checked 2026-10-19).
For a Acton address billed by Eversource Energy, the Mass Save whole-home heat pump rebate is $2,650 per ton up to $8,500, and the partial-home rebate is $1,125 per ton up to $8,500; for projects installed on or after January 1, 2027, the whole-home figure drops to $2,350 per ton capped at $7,500 (Mass Save air-source heat pump rebates, https://www.masssave.com/residential/rebates-offers-services/heating-and-cooling/heat-pumps/air-source-heat-pumps, checked 2026-10-19).
Median household income in Acton is $158,230 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B19013, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B19013?g=060XX00US2501700380, checked 2026-10-19); Mass Save's enhanced heat pump incentives are income-based and decided household by household, so the town median only hints at how many neighbors qualify.
Heating design temperature: 1F. Source: ENERGY STAR Design Temperature Limit Reference Guide (2019 Edition), Middlesex County row, 99% heating, PDF page 56 of 141 (Revised 11/11/2020), https://www.energystar.gov/sites/default/files/Design%20Temperature%20Limit%20Reference%20Guide%20(2019%20Ed)%20-%20ENERGY%20STAR%20Single-Family%20New%20Homes_Rev11.pdf, fetched 2026-10-19, 99%.
That 1F figure is the Middlesex County cold-day number a Acton heat pump is sized against, so ask the installer to show the system's heating output at 1F, not at the milder rating-label temperature.
Ask whether the quote is whole-home or partial-home, because with 52% of Acton on gas and 19% already electric the two paths carry different rebate figures and different sizing.
Ask for the heat-loss calculation room by room; the median Acton home has 6.8 rooms and was built around 1974, and the count of heads and the tonnage follow the rooms and the insulation, not the square footage.
The form on this page is the follow-up for Acton. The public number is the number the contractor quotes from.
No local contractor is named on this door for Acton yet. A request from this page goes to the first licensed shop that takes the door.