Worcester / Amherst
Amherst has 38,182 residents (give or take 37) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B01003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B01003?g=060XX00US2501501370, checked 2026-10-19), about 1,382 people per square mile.
Amherst is about 36 miles from the Census center point for Worcester in a straight line and covers 27.624 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 Amherst that is 01002, 01003 (Census 2020 ZCTA to county subdivision and ZCTA to place relationship files, ZIP areas at least 20% inside the town, https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/rel2020/zcta520/tab20_zcta520_cousub20_natl.txt and https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/rel2020/zcta520/tab20_zcta520_place20_natl.txt, checked 2026-10-19).
Median household income in Amherst is $66,968 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B19013, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B19013?g=060XX00US2501501370, 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.
42% of Amherst homes are single-family detached, 14% are in two- to four-unit buildings and 38% are in buildings of five or more units (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=060XX00US2501501370, checked 2026-10-19).
56% of Amherst homes are rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=060XX00US2501501370, checked 2026-10-19), so beside the 42% detached houses there is a real share of jobs where the landlord, not the resident, signs the quote.
Amherst has 17 points fewer detached houses than Hampshire County overall (59%) and 22 points more five-plus-unit buildings than the county's 16% (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=050XX00US25015, checked 2026-10-19).
56% of Amherst homes are rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=060XX00US2501501370, 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.
Of the 9,700 occupied homes in Amherst, 27% heat with natural gas, 24% with heating oil, 35% with electricity and 11% with propane (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=060XX00US2501501370, checked 2026-10-19).
Electricity already heats 35% of Amherst homes, ahead of gas at 27%, and a home on electric baseboard sees the biggest bill change from a heat pump because it replaces resistance heat one for one.
Amherst has 6 points less oil heat than Hampshire County as a whole, where 30% of homes burn oil, and 14 points more electric heat than the county's 21% (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=050XX00US25015, checked 2026-10-19).
Eversource Energy lists Amherst 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 Amherst 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).
Amherst has 10,925 housing units, 23% built before 1940 and 60% before 1980, with 16% built in 2000 or later (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=060XX00US2501501370, checked 2026-10-19).
Amherst has 4 points fewer pre-1940 homes than Hampshire County as a whole (27%) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=050XX00US25015, checked 2026-10-19).
The median Amherst home was built in 1975 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25035, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25035?g=060XX00US2501501370, checked 2026-10-19) and the median home has 5.1 rooms (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25018, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25018?g=060XX00US2501501370, checked 2026-10-19).
Only 16% of Amherst homes are new enough to pass the whole-home rebate's weatherization check on age, and 23% date from before 1940, so most of the other 84% show it with a home energy assessment before the heat pump goes in.
Heating design temperature: -3F. Source: ENERGY STAR Design Temperature Limit Reference Guide (2019 Edition), Hampshire 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 -3F figure is the Hampshire County cold-day number a Amherst heat pump is sized against, so ask the installer to show the system's heating output at -3F, not at the milder rating-label temperature.
Ask for the heat-loss calculation room by room; the median Amherst home has 5.1 rooms and was built around 1975, 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 Amherst. The public number is the number the contractor quotes from.
No local contractor is named on this door for Amherst yet. A request from this page goes to the first licensed shop that takes the door.