Boston / Peabody
Peabody has 54,695 residents (give or take 38) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B01003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B01003?g=060XX00US2500952490, checked 2026-10-19), about 3,369 people per square mile.
Peabody is about 14 miles from the Census center point for Boston in a straight line and covers 16.237 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 Peabody that is 01960 (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).
3,369 people per square mile puts Peabody in suburban density, where the outdoor unit usually sits in a side yard and the noise is not an issue for neighbors.
Of the 22,390 occupied homes in Peabody, 51% heat with natural gas, 24% with heating oil, 20% with electricity and 3% with propane (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=060XX00US2500952490, checked 2026-10-19).
Gas leads in Peabody at 51%, but 27% of homes still burn delivered oil or propane, and those 6,045 or so homes are where a heat pump pays back fastest.
Peabody has 4 points more oil heat than Essex County as a whole, where 20% of homes burn oil, and 3 points more electric heat than the county's 17% (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=050XX00US25009, checked 2026-10-19).
Peabody has 23,081 housing units, 22% built before 1940 and 64% before 1980, with 16% built in 2000 or later (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=060XX00US2500952490, checked 2026-10-19).
Peabody has 13 points fewer pre-1940 homes than Essex County as a whole (35%) and 3 points more homes built after 2000 than the county's 13% (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=050XX00US25009, checked 2026-10-19).
The median Peabody home was built in 1966 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25035, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25035?g=060XX00US2500952490, checked 2026-10-19) and the median home has 5.5 rooms (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25018, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25018?g=060XX00US2500952490, checked 2026-10-19).
51% of Peabody homes are single-family detached, 14% are in two- to four-unit buildings and 28% are in buildings of five or more units (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=060XX00US2500952490, checked 2026-10-19).
34% of Peabody homes are rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=060XX00US2500952490, checked 2026-10-19), so beside the 51% detached houses there is a real share of jobs where the landlord, not the resident, signs the quote.
64% of Peabody homes were built before 1980 and only 16% in 2000 or later (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=060XX00US2500952490, 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.
Peabody is also on the state table of towns served by a municipal light plant, Peabody Municipal Light Plant (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 Peabody home billed by Peabody Municipal Light Plant asks the plant for its heat pump rebate instead.
Median household income in Peabody is $96,657 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B19013, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B19013?g=060XX00US2500952490, 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), Essex 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 Essex County cold-day number a Peabody 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 Peabody on gas and 20% already electric the two paths carry different rebate figures and different sizing.
Ask for the heat-loss calculation room by room; the median Peabody home has 5.5 rooms and was built around 1966, 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 Peabody. The public number is the number the contractor quotes from.
No local contractor is named on this door for Peabody yet. A request from this page goes to the first licensed shop that takes the door.