Boston / West Roxbury
The figures on this page cover ZIP code 02132, the code a state office list files under West Roxbury (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).
West Roxbury has 26,444 residents (give or take 1,768) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B01003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B01003?g=860Z200US02132, checked 2026-10-19), about 5,441 people per square mile.
West Roxbury is about 8 miles from the Census center point for Boston in a straight line and covers 4.86 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).
5,441 people per square mile puts West Roxbury in suburban density, where the outdoor unit usually sits in a side yard and the noise is not an issue for neighbors.
Of the 11,107 occupied homes in West Roxbury, 68% heat with natural gas, 14% with heating oil, 14% with electricity and 3% with propane (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=860Z200US02132, checked 2026-10-19).
Gas leads in West Roxbury at 68%, but 17% of homes still burn delivered oil or propane, and those 1,888 or so homes are where a heat pump pays back fastest.
West Roxbury has 7 points more oil heat than Suffolk County as a whole, where 7% of homes burn oil, and 17 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).
59% of West Roxbury homes are single-family detached, 17% are in two- to four-unit buildings and 19% are in buildings of five or more units (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=860Z200US02132, checked 2026-10-19).
30% of West Roxbury homes are rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=860Z200US02132, checked 2026-10-19), so beside the 59% detached houses there is a real share of jobs where the landlord, not the resident, signs the quote.
West Roxbury has 46 points more detached houses than Suffolk County overall (13%) and 26 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).
West Roxbury has 11,982 housing units, 44% built before 1940 and 83% before 1980, with 8% built in 2000 or later (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=860Z200US02132, checked 2026-10-19).
West Roxbury has 10 points fewer 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 West Roxbury home was built in 1948 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25035, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25035?g=860Z200US02132, checked 2026-10-19) and the median home has 6 rooms (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25018, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25018?g=860Z200US02132, checked 2026-10-19).
Eversource Energy lists West Roxbury 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 West Roxbury 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 44% of homes built before 1940 and only 8% new enough to pass on age, the first question for a West Roxbury 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 West Roxbury is $138,724 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B19013, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B19013?g=860Z200US02132, 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 West Roxbury 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 68% of West Roxbury on gas and 14% already electric the two paths carry different rebate figures and different sizing.
Ask for the heat-loss calculation room by room; a West Roxbury house from before 1940 (44% of the 11,982 units) rarely matches a square-footage rule of thumb.
The form on this page is the follow-up for West Roxbury. The public number is the number the contractor quotes from.
No local contractor is named on this door for West Roxbury yet. A request from this page goes to the first licensed shop that takes the door.