Worcester / Orange
Orange has 7,573 residents (give or take 26) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B01003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B01003?g=060XX00US2501151265, checked 2026-10-19), about 216 people per square mile.
Orange is about 34 miles from the Census center point for Worcester in a straight line and covers 35.064 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 Orange that is 01364 (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).
Orange is spread out at 216 people per square mile across 35.064 square miles of land, so a long refrigerant line run between the outdoor unit and the farthest indoor head is the sizing question an installer checks first.
Of the 3,033 occupied homes in Orange, 2% heat with natural gas, 56% with heating oil, 20% with electricity and 7% with propane (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=060XX00US2501151265, checked 2026-10-19).
Heating oil is the largest single fuel in Orange at 56%, ahead of electricity at 20%, so the usual job here is an oil boiler or furnace coming out and a cold-climate heat pump going in, with the oil tank removed.
Orange has 14 points more oil heat than Franklin County as a whole, where 42% of homes burn oil, and 5 points more electric heat than the county's 15% (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=050XX00US25011, checked 2026-10-19).
Orange has 3,390 housing units, 32% built before 1940 and 72% before 1980, with 10% built in 2000 or later (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=060XX00US2501151265, checked 2026-10-19).
Orange has 3 points fewer pre-1940 homes than Franklin County as a whole (35%) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=050XX00US25011, checked 2026-10-19).
The median Orange home was built in 1966 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25035, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25035?g=060XX00US2501151265, checked 2026-10-19) and the median home has 5.6 rooms (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25018, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25018?g=060XX00US2501151265, checked 2026-10-19).
62% of Orange homes are single-family detached, 15% are in two- to four-unit buildings and 17% are in buildings of five or more units (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=060XX00US2501151265, checked 2026-10-19).
30% of Orange homes are rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=060XX00US2501151265, checked 2026-10-19), so beside the 62% detached houses there is a real share of jobs where the landlord, not the resident, signs the quote.
Only 10% of Orange homes are new enough to pass the whole-home rebate's weatherization check on age, and 32% date from before 1940, so most of the other 90% show it with a home energy assessment before the heat pump goes in.
No electric utility is on file for Orange on this door yet, so this page does not name one; the name on the bill decides which rebate path applies.
If the Orange 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).
Median household income in Orange is $55,824 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B19013, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B19013?g=060XX00US2501151265, 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: -3F. Source: ENERGY STAR Design Temperature Limit Reference Guide (2019 Edition), Franklin 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 Franklin County cold-day number a Orange 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 what happens to the oil tank, since 56% of the 3,033 occupied Orange homes have one and removal is usually a separate line on the quote.
Ask for the heat-loss calculation room by room; a Orange house from before 1940 (32% of the 3,390 units) rarely matches a square-footage rule of thumb.
The form on this page is the follow-up for Orange. The public number is the number the contractor quotes from.
No local contractor is named on this door for Orange yet. A request from this page goes to the first licensed shop that takes the door.