Boston / Jamaica Plain
The figures on this page cover ZIP code 02130, the code a state office list files under Jamaica Plain (BOSTON OFFICES BY ZIP CODE (Massachusetts Department of Children and Families), https://www.mass.gov/doc/boston-dcf-coverage-by-zip-code/download, checked 2026-10-19).
Jamaica Plain has 40,055 residents (give or take 1,792) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B01003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B01003?g=860Z200US02130, checked 2026-10-19), about 11,315 people per square mile.
Jamaica Plain is about 5 miles from the Census center point for Boston in a straight line and covers 3.54 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).
At 11,315 people per square mile, Jamaica Plain is dense enough that noise setback rules and outdoor-unit placement on a small lot are the first questions the installer works through.
Of the 18,237 occupied homes in Jamaica Plain, 61% heat with natural gas, 9% with heating oil, 25% with electricity and 3% with propane (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=860Z200US02130, checked 2026-10-19).
Gas heats 61% of Jamaica Plain against electricity at 25%, 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.
Jamaica Plain has about the Suffolk County oil share of 7% and 6 points less 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).
12% of Jamaica Plain homes are single-family detached, 47% are in two- to four-unit buildings and 37% are in buildings of five or more units (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=860Z200US02130, checked 2026-10-19).
A two- or three-family building is the common Jamaica Plain case at 47% 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 56% of Jamaica Plain homes rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=860Z200US02130, checked 2026-10-19), the landlord signs the quote in many of them.
Jamaica Plain has 19,120 housing units, 58% built before 1940 and 77% before 1980, with 14% built in 2000 or later (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=860Z200US02130, checked 2026-10-19).
Jamaica Plain has 12 points more pre-1940 homes than Suffolk County as a whole (46%) and 4 points fewer homes built after 2000 than the county's 18% (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=050XX00US25025, checked 2026-10-19). An older stock means more insulation upgrades before the heat pump goes in.
The median Jamaica Plain home was built in 1938 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25035, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25035?g=860Z200US02130, checked 2026-10-19) and the median home has 4.7 rooms (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25018, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25018?g=860Z200US02130, checked 2026-10-19).
56% of Jamaica Plain homes are rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=860Z200US02130, checked 2026-10-19), so the market splits between resident-led jobs where the occupant picks the system and landlord-led jobs where they do not, and the rebate paperwork differs.
Eversource Energy lists Jamaica Plain 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 Jamaica Plain 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).
With 58% of homes built before 1940 and only 14% new enough to pass on age, the first question for a Jamaica Plain 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.
Median household income in Jamaica Plain is $131,551 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B19013, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B19013?g=860Z200US02130, 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), 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 Jamaica Plain 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 61% of Jamaica Plain on gas and 25% already electric the two paths carry different rebate figures and different sizing.
Ask for the heat-loss calculation room by room; a Jamaica Plain house from before 1940 (58% of the 19,120 units) rarely matches a square-footage rule of thumb.
The form on this page is the follow-up for Jamaica Plain. The public number is the number the contractor quotes from.
No local contractor is named on this door for Jamaica Plain yet. A request from this page goes to the first licensed shop that takes the door.