Boston / Dedham
Dedham is about 10 miles from the Census center point for Boston in a straight line and covers 10.27 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).
Dedham has 25,237 residents (give or take 39) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B01003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B01003?g=060XX00US2502116495, checked 2026-10-19), about 2,457 people per square mile.
The quote form takes a ZIP code; for Dedham that is 02026 (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 10,530 occupied homes in Dedham, 68% heat with natural gas, 13% with heating oil, 15% with electricity and 2% with propane (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=060XX00US2502116495, checked 2026-10-19).
Dedham has 10 points less oil heat than Norfolk County as a whole, where 23% of homes burn oil, and 3 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 Dedham at 68%, but 16% of homes still burn delivered oil or propane, and those 1,685 or so homes are where a heat pump pays back fastest.
The median Dedham home was built in 1956 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25035, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25035?g=060XX00US2502116495, checked 2026-10-19) and the median home has 6.1 rooms (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25018, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25018?g=060XX00US2502116495, checked 2026-10-19).
Dedham has 10,828 housing units, 30% built before 1940 and 76% before 1980, with 17% built in 2000 or later (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=060XX00US2502116495, checked 2026-10-19).
Dedham has 4 points more pre-1940 homes than Norfolk County as a whole (26%) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=050XX00US25021, checked 2026-10-19). An older stock means more insulation upgrades before the heat pump goes in.
Only 17% of Dedham homes are new enough to pass the whole-home rebate's weatherization check on age, and 30% date from before 1940, so most of the other 83% show it with a home energy assessment before the heat pump goes in.
65% of Dedham homes are single-family detached, 10% are in two- to four-unit buildings and 18% are in buildings of five or more units (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=060XX00US2502116495, checked 2026-10-19).
27% of Dedham homes are rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=060XX00US2502116495, 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.
Dedham 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).
Eversource Energy lists Dedham 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 Dedham 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 Dedham is $128,955 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B19013, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B19013?g=060XX00US2502116495, 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), 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 Dedham 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 68% of Dedham on gas and 15% already electric the two paths carry different rebate figures and different sizing.
Ask for the heat-loss calculation room by room; a Dedham house from before 1940 (30% of the 10,828 units) rarely matches a square-footage rule of thumb.
The form on this page is the follow-up for Dedham. The public number is the number the contractor quotes from.
No local contractor is named on this door for Dedham yet. A request from this page goes to the first licensed shop that takes the door.