Boston / Arlington
Arlington has 46,350 residents (give or take 40) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B01003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B01003?g=060XX00US2501701605, checked 2026-10-19), about 9,014 people per square mile.
Arlington is about 9 miles from the Census center point for Boston in a straight line and covers 5.142 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).
The quote form takes a ZIP code; for Arlington that is 02474, 02476 (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).
Median household income in Arlington is $150,701 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B19013, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B19013?g=060XX00US2501701605, 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.
At 9,014 people per square mile, Arlington is dense enough that noise setback rules and outdoor-unit placement on a small lot are the first questions the installer works through.
38% of Arlington homes are single-family detached, 29% are in two- to four-unit buildings and 25% are in buildings of five or more units (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=060XX00US2501701605, checked 2026-10-19).
38% of Arlington homes are rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=060XX00US2501701605, checked 2026-10-19), so beside the 38% detached houses there is a real share of jobs where the landlord, not the resident, signs the quote.
Arlington has 8 points fewer 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).
Of the 20,005 occupied homes in Arlington, 59% heat with natural gas, 18% with heating oil, 18% with electricity and 3% with propane (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=060XX00US2501701605, checked 2026-10-19).
Gas leads in Arlington at 59%, but 21% of homes still burn delivered oil or propane, and those 4,201 or so homes are where a heat pump pays back fastest.
Arlington has about the Middlesex County oil share of 18% and the same 18% electric share (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=050XX00US25017, checked 2026-10-19).
Eversource Energy lists Arlington 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 Arlington 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).
Arlington has 20,746 housing units, 47% built before 1940 and 86% before 1980, with 8% built in 2000 or later (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=060XX00US2501701605, checked 2026-10-19).
Arlington has 15 points more pre-1940 homes than Middlesex County as a whole (32%) and 7 points fewer homes built after 2000 than the county's 15% (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=050XX00US25017, checked 2026-10-19). An older stock means more insulation upgrades before the heat pump goes in.
The median Arlington home was built in 1945 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25035, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25035?g=060XX00US2501701605, checked 2026-10-19) and the median home has 5.8 rooms (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25018, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25018?g=060XX00US2501701605, checked 2026-10-19).
With 47% of homes built before 1940 and only 8% new enough to pass on age, the first question for a Arlington house is insulation: the whole-home rebate wants proof the house is weatherized, and a no-cost home energy assessment is the usual way an older home shows it.
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 Arlington 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 59% of Arlington on gas and 18% already electric the two paths carry different rebate figures and different sizing.
Ask for the heat-loss calculation room by room; a Arlington house from before 1940 (47% of the 20,746 units) rarely matches a square-footage rule of thumb.
The form on this page is the follow-up for Arlington. The public number is the number the contractor quotes from.
No local contractor is named on this door for Arlington yet. A request from this page goes to the first licensed shop that takes the door.