Boston / Needham
Needham is about 12 miles from the Census center point for Boston in a straight line and covers 12.298 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).
Needham has 32,459 residents (give or take 33) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B01003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B01003?g=060XX00US2502144105, checked 2026-10-19), about 2,639 people per square mile.
The quote form takes a ZIP code; for Needham that is 02492, 02494 (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 11,586 occupied homes in Needham, 56% heat with natural gas, 28% 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=060XX00US2502144105, checked 2026-10-19).
Needham has 5 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 Needham at 56%, but 30% of homes still burn delivered oil or propane, and those 3,476 or so homes are where a heat pump pays back fastest.
The median Needham home was built in 1965 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25035, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25035?g=060XX00US2502144105, checked 2026-10-19) and the median home has 7.7 rooms (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25018, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25018?g=060XX00US2502144105, checked 2026-10-19).
Needham has 11,929 housing units, 18% built before 1940 and 64% before 1980, with 23% built in 2000 or later (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=060XX00US2502144105, checked 2026-10-19).
Needham has 8 points fewer pre-1940 homes than Norfolk County as a whole (26%) and 8 points more homes built after 2000 than the county's 15% (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=050XX00US25021, checked 2026-10-19).
Only 23% of Needham homes are new enough to pass the whole-home rebate's weatherization check on age, and 18% date from before 1940, so most of the other 77% show it with a home energy assessment before the heat pump goes in.
74% of Needham homes are single-family detached, 4% are in two- to four-unit buildings and 17% are in buildings of five or more units (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=060XX00US2502144105, checked 2026-10-19).
With 74% detached houses and 4% in small multi-family buildings, a Needham quote is usually one or two outdoor units with ducted or ductless heads sized room by room. With 17% of Needham homes rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=060XX00US2502144105, checked 2026-10-19), the landlord signs the quote in many of them.
Needham has 17 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 Needham 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 Needham 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 Needham is $214,308 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B19013, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B19013?g=060XX00US2502144105, 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 Needham 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 Needham 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 Needham home has 7.7 rooms and was built around 1965, 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 Needham. The public number is the number the contractor quotes from.
No local contractor is named on this door for Needham yet. A request from this page goes to the first licensed shop that takes the door.