Boston / South Boston
The figures on this page cover ZIP code 02127, the code a state office list files under South Boston (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).
South Boston has 36,769 residents (give or take 1,669) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B01003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B01003?g=860Z200US02127, checked 2026-10-19), about 17,849 people per square mile.
South Boston sits inside Boston itself, under 3 miles from the Census center point for the city, and covers 2.06 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 17,849 people per square mile, South Boston 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 18,066 occupied homes in South Boston, 62% heat with natural gas, 4% with heating oil, 27% with electricity and 4% with propane (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=860Z200US02127, checked 2026-10-19).
Gas heats 62% of South Boston against electricity at 27%, 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.
South Boston has 3 points less oil heat than Suffolk County as a whole, where 7% of homes burn oil, and 4 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).
7% of South Boston homes are single-family detached, 49% are in two- to four-unit buildings and 34% are in buildings of five or more units (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=860Z200US02127, checked 2026-10-19).
A two- or three-family building is the common South Boston case at 49% of the stock against 7% 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 55% of South Boston homes rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=860Z200US02127, checked 2026-10-19), the landlord signs the quote in many of them.
South Boston has 6 points fewer detached houses than Suffolk County overall (13%) and 11 points fewer five-plus-unit buildings than the county's 45% (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=050XX00US25025, checked 2026-10-19).
South Boston has 19,534 housing units, 47% built before 1940 and 65% before 1980, with 24% built in 2000 or later (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=860Z200US02127, checked 2026-10-19).
South Boston has 6 points more 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).
The median South Boston home was built in 1948 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25035, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25035?g=860Z200US02127, checked 2026-10-19) and the median home has 4.2 rooms (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25018, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25018?g=860Z200US02127, checked 2026-10-19).
55% of South Boston homes are rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=860Z200US02127, 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 South Boston 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 South Boston 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 47% of homes built before 1940 and only 24% new enough to pass on age, the first question for a South Boston 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 South Boston is $164,387 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B19013, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B19013?g=860Z200US02127, 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 South Boston 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 62% of South Boston on gas and 27% already electric the two paths carry different rebate figures and different sizing.
Ask for the heat-loss calculation room by room; a South Boston house from before 1940 (47% of the 19,534 units) rarely matches a square-footage rule of thumb.
The form on this page is the follow-up for South Boston. The public number is the number the contractor quotes from.
No local contractor is named on this door for South Boston yet. A request from this page goes to the first licensed shop that takes the door.