Boston / Braintree
Braintree is about 9 miles from the Census center point for Boston in a straight line and covers 13.762 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).
Braintree has 38,899 residents (give or take 38) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B01003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B01003?g=060XX00US2502107740, checked 2026-10-19), about 2,827 people per square mile.
The quote form takes a ZIP code; for Braintree that is 02184 (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 14,432 occupied homes in Braintree, 51% heat with natural gas, 31% with heating oil, 13% with electricity and 3% with propane (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=060XX00US2502107740, checked 2026-10-19).
Braintree has 8 points more oil heat than Norfolk County as a whole, where 23% of homes burn oil, and 5 points less electric heat than the county's 18% (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=050XX00US25021, checked 2026-10-19).
Gas leads in Braintree at 51%, but 34% of homes still burn delivered oil or propane, and those 4,907 or so homes are where a heat pump pays back fastest.
The median Braintree home was built in 1957 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25035, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25035?g=060XX00US2502107740, checked 2026-10-19) and the median home has 5.9 rooms (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25018, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25018?g=060XX00US2502107740, checked 2026-10-19).
Braintree has 15,163 housing units, 28% built before 1940 and 75% before 1980, with 14% built in 2000 or later (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=060XX00US2502107740, checked 2026-10-19).
Braintree tracks Norfolk County on housing age, with the county at 26% pre-1940 and 15% post-2000 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=050XX00US25021, checked 2026-10-19).
75% of Braintree homes were built before 1980 and only 14% in 2000 or later (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=060XX00US2502107740, checked 2026-10-19), so most of the stock predates modern insulation codes; the installer's heat-loss calculation, not a square-footage rule, decides the tonnage.
65% of Braintree homes are single-family detached, 9% are in two- to four-unit buildings and 22% are in buildings of five or more units (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=060XX00US2502107740, checked 2026-10-19).
22% of Braintree homes are rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=060XX00US2502107740, checked 2026-10-19), so beside the 65% detached houses there is a real share of jobs where the landlord, not the resident, signs the quote.
Braintree has 8 points more detached houses than Norfolk County overall (57%) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=050XX00US25021, checked 2026-10-19).
Braintree is also on the state table of towns served by a municipal light plant, Braintree Electric Light Department (Massachusetts municipally-owned electric companies, https://www.mass.gov/info-details/massachusetts-municipally-owned-electric-companies, checked 2026-10-19).
Mass Save heat pump rebates are for electric accounts with Cape Light Compact, Eversource, National Grid or Unitil, so a Braintree home billed by Braintree Electric Light Department asks the plant for its heat pump rebate instead.
Median household income in Braintree is $122,214 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B19013, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B19013?g=060XX00US2502107740, checked 2026-10-19); many state and utility heat pump rebate programs set higher incentive tiers for income-qualifying households, so the household income on the application, not the town median, decides which level applies.
Heating design temperature: 1F. Source: ENERGY STAR Design Temperature Limit Reference Guide (2019 Edition), Norfolk 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 Norfolk County cold-day number a Braintree 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 51% of Braintree on gas and 13% already electric the two paths carry different rebate figures and different sizing.
Ask for the heat-loss calculation room by room; the median Braintree home has 5.9 rooms and was built around 1957, 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 Braintree. The public number is the number the contractor quotes from.
No local contractor is named on this door for Braintree yet. A request from this page goes to the first licensed shop that takes the door.