Boston / Orleans
Orleans has 6,415 residents (give or take 16) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B01003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B01003?g=060XX00US2500151440, checked 2026-10-19), about 453 people per square mile.
Orleans is about 67 miles from the Census center point for Boston in a straight line and covers 14.163 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 Orleans that is 02643, 02653 (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).
Orleans is spread out at 453 people per square mile across 14.163 square miles of land, so a long refrigerant line run between the outdoor unit and the farthest indoor head is the sizing question an installer checks first.
Of the 3,144 occupied homes in Orleans, 42% heat with natural gas, 38% with heating oil, 13% with electricity and 4% with propane (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=060XX00US2500151440, checked 2026-10-19).
Gas leads in Orleans at 42%, but 42% of homes still burn delivered oil or propane, and those 1,320 or so homes are where a heat pump pays back fastest.
Orleans has 19 points more oil heat than Barnstable County as a whole, where 19% of homes burn oil, and the same 13% electric share (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=050XX00US25001, checked 2026-10-19).
Orleans has 5,802 housing units, 10% built before 1940 and 53% before 1980, with 13% built in 2000 or later (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=060XX00US2500151440, checked 2026-10-19).
Orleans tracks Barnstable County on housing age, with the county at 11% pre-1940 and 13% post-2000 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=050XX00US25001, checked 2026-10-19).
The median Orleans home was built in 1979 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25035, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25035?g=060XX00US2500151440, checked 2026-10-19) and the median home has 6.2 rooms (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25018, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25018?g=060XX00US2500151440, checked 2026-10-19).
82% of Orleans homes are single-family detached, 7% are in two- to four-unit buildings and 7% are in buildings of five or more units (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=060XX00US2500151440, checked 2026-10-19).
With 82% detached houses and 7% in small multi-family buildings, a Orleans quote is usually one or two outdoor units with ducted or ductless heads sized room by room. With 19% of Orleans homes rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=060XX00US2500151440, checked 2026-10-19), the landlord signs the quote in many of them.
Only 13% of Orleans homes are new enough to pass the whole-home rebate's weatherization check on age, and 10% date from before 1940, so most of the other 87% show it with a home energy assessment before the heat pump goes in.
Eversource Energy lists Orleans 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 Orleans 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 Orleans is $102,335 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B19013, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B19013?g=060XX00US2500151440, 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: 10F. Source: ENERGY STAR Design Temperature Limit Reference Guide (2019 Edition), Barnstable 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 10F figure is the Barnstable County cold-day number a Orleans heat pump is sized against, so ask the installer to show the system's heating output at 10F, not at the milder rating-label temperature.
Ask whether the quote is whole-home or partial-home, because with 42% of Orleans 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 Orleans home has 6.2 rooms and was built around 1979, 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 Orleans. The public number is the number the contractor quotes from.
No local contractor is named on this door for Orleans yet. A request from this page goes to the first licensed shop that takes the door.