Worcester / Marlborough
Marlborough has 41,647 residents (give or take 46) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B01003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B01003?g=060XX00US2501738715, checked 2026-10-19), about 1,996 people per square mile.
Marlborough is about 14 miles from the Census center point for Worcester in a straight line and covers 20.864 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 Marlborough that is 01752 (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 Marlborough is $91,968 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B19013, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B19013?g=060XX00US2501738715, 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.
44% of Marlborough homes are single-family detached, 17% are in two- to four-unit buildings and 29% are in buildings of five or more units (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=060XX00US2501738715, checked 2026-10-19).
44% of Marlborough homes are rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=060XX00US2501738715, checked 2026-10-19), so beside the 44% detached houses there is a real share of jobs where the landlord, not the resident, signs the quote.
44% of Marlborough homes are rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=060XX00US2501738715, 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 16,665 occupied homes in Marlborough, 61% heat with natural gas, 11% with heating oil, 22% with electricity and 3% with propane (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=060XX00US2501738715, checked 2026-10-19).
Gas leads in Marlborough at 61%, but 15% of homes still burn delivered oil or propane, and those 2,500 or so homes are where a heat pump pays back fastest.
Marlborough has 7 points less oil heat than Middlesex County as a whole, where 18% of homes burn oil, and 4 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).
No electric utility is on file for Marlborough on this door yet, so this page does not name one; the name on the bill decides which rebate path applies.
If the Marlborough electric bill comes from one of the Mass Save sponsors (Cape Light Compact, Eversource, National Grid, Unitil), the 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).
Marlborough has 17,247 housing units, 21% built before 1940 and 57% before 1980, with 16% built in 2000 or later (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=060XX00US2501738715, checked 2026-10-19).
Marlborough has 11 points fewer pre-1940 homes than Middlesex County as a whole (32%) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=050XX00US25017, checked 2026-10-19).
The median Marlborough home was built in 1974 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25035, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25035?g=060XX00US2501738715, 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=060XX00US2501738715, checked 2026-10-19).
Only 16% of Marlborough homes are new enough to pass the whole-home rebate's weatherization check on age, and 21% 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: 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 Marlborough 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 61% of Marlborough on gas and 22% already electric the two paths carry different rebate figures and different sizing.
Ask for the heat-loss calculation room by room; the median Marlborough home has 5.1 rooms and was built around 1974, 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 Marlborough. The public number is the number the contractor quotes from.
No local contractor is named on this door for Marlborough yet. A request from this page goes to the first licensed shop that takes the door.