Boston / Stoneham
Stoneham is about 10 miles from the Census center point for Boston in a straight line and covers 6.016 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).
Stoneham has 23,355 residents (give or take 48) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B01003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B01003?g=060XX00US2501767665, checked 2026-10-19), about 3,882 people per square mile.
The quote form takes a ZIP code; for Stoneham that is 02180 (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).
3,882 people per square mile puts Stoneham in suburban density, where the outdoor unit usually sits in a side yard and the noise is not an issue for neighbors.
Of the 9,749 occupied homes in Stoneham, 44% heat with natural gas, 29% with heating oil, 21% with electricity and 3% with propane (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=060XX00US2501767665, checked 2026-10-19).
Stoneham has 11 points more oil heat than Middlesex County as a whole, where 18% of homes burn oil, and 3 points more electric heat than the county's 18% (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=050XX00US25017, checked 2026-10-19).
Gas leads in Stoneham at 44%, but 32% of homes still burn delivered oil or propane, and those 3,120 or so homes are where a heat pump pays back fastest.
The median Stoneham home was built in 1964 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25035, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25035?g=060XX00US2501767665, checked 2026-10-19) and the median home has 5.9 rooms (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25018, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25018?g=060XX00US2501767665, checked 2026-10-19).
Stoneham has 10,196 housing units, 25% built before 1940 and 70% before 1980, with 12% built in 2000 or later (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=060XX00US2501767665, checked 2026-10-19).
Stoneham has 7 points fewer pre-1940 homes than Middlesex County as a whole (32%) and 3 points fewer homes built after 2000 than the county's 15% (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=050XX00US25017, checked 2026-10-19).
Only 12% of Stoneham homes are new enough to pass the whole-home rebate's weatherization check on age, and 25% date from before 1940, so most of the other 88% show it with a home energy assessment before the heat pump goes in.
54% of Stoneham homes are single-family detached, 12% are in two- to four-unit buildings and 30% are in buildings of five or more units (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=060XX00US2501767665, checked 2026-10-19).
29% of Stoneham homes are rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=060XX00US2501767665, checked 2026-10-19), so beside the 54% detached houses there is a real share of jobs where the landlord, not the resident, signs the quote.
Stoneham has 8 points more detached houses than Middlesex County overall (46%) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=050XX00US25017, checked 2026-10-19).
Eversource Energy lists Stoneham 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 Stoneham 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 Stoneham is $113,964 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B19013, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B19013?g=060XX00US2501767665, 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), Middlesex 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 Middlesex County cold-day number a Stoneham 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 44% of Stoneham on gas and 21% already electric the two paths carry different rebate figures and different sizing.
Ask for the heat-loss calculation room by room; the median Stoneham home has 5.9 rooms and was built around 1964, 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 Stoneham. The public number is the number the contractor quotes from.
No local contractor is named on this door for Stoneham yet. A request from this page goes to the first licensed shop that takes the door.