Boston / Boston
Boston has 666,442 residents (give or take 55) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B01003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B01003?g=060XX00US2502507000, checked 2026-10-19), about 13,786 people per square mile.
Boston is the city this door is named for; it covers 48.341 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 Boston that is 02108, 02109, 02110, 02111, 02113, 02114, 02115, 02116 and 24 more (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 Boston is $97,344 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B19013, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B19013?g=060XX00US2502507000, 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 13,786 people per square mile, Boston is dense enough that noise setback rules and outdoor-unit placement on a small lot are the first questions the installer works through.
12% of Boston homes are single-family detached, 35% are in two- to four-unit buildings and 46% are in buildings of five or more units (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=060XX00US2502507000, checked 2026-10-19).
A two- or three-family building is the common Boston case at 35% of the stock against 12% detached houses, and each unit usually gets its own small outdoor unit and its own rebate account rather than one big system for the building. With 64% of Boston homes rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=060XX00US2502507000, checked 2026-10-19), the landlord signs the quote in many of them.
With 64% of Boston homes rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=060XX00US2502507000, checked 2026-10-19), most heat pump quotes here are landlord-driven: the landlord signs the contract and picks the equipment, and the tenant sees the lower bill.
Of the 283,374 occupied homes in Boston, 56% heat with natural gas, 7% with heating oil, 32% with electricity and 3% with propane (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=060XX00US2502507000, checked 2026-10-19).
Gas heats 56% of Boston against electricity at 32%, so most quotes here are a partial-home system that carries the shoulder seasons and the summer while the gas furnace handles the coldest nights, or a whole-home system when the house is ready for it.
Boston has about the Suffolk County oil share of 7% and 1 points more electric heat than the county's 31% (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=050XX00US25025, checked 2026-10-19).
Eversource Energy lists Boston 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 Boston 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).
Boston has 310,625 housing units, 47% built before 1940 and 72% before 1980, with 18% built in 2000 or later (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=060XX00US2502507000, checked 2026-10-19).
Boston tracks Suffolk County on housing age, with the county at 46% pre-1940 and 18% post-2000 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=050XX00US25025, checked 2026-10-19).
The median Boston home was built in 1947 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25035, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25035?g=060XX00US2502507000, checked 2026-10-19) and the median home has 4.2 rooms (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25018, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25018?g=060XX00US2502507000, checked 2026-10-19).
With 47% of homes built before 1940 and only 18% new enough to pass on age, the first question for a Boston 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), Suffolk 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 Suffolk County cold-day number a Boston 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 56% of Boston on gas and 32% already electric the two paths carry different rebate figures and different sizing.
Ask for the heat-loss calculation room by room; a Boston house from before 1940 (47% of the 310,625 units) rarely matches a square-footage rule of thumb.
The form on this page is the follow-up for Boston. The public number is the number the contractor quotes from.
No local contractor is named on this door for Boston yet. A request from this page goes to the first licensed shop that takes the door.