Manchester / Portsmouth
Portsmouth has 22,545 residents (give or take 34) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B01003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B01003?g=060XX00US3301562900, checked 2026-10-19), about 1,440 people per square mile.
Portsmouth is about 34 miles from the Census center point for Manchester in a straight line and covers 15.661 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 Portsmouth that is 03801 (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 Portsmouth is $106,219 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B19013, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B19013?g=060XX00US3301562900, checked 2026-10-19); many state and utility heat pump rebate programs set higher incentive tiers for income-qualifying households, so the household income on the application, not the town median, decides which level applies.
39% of Portsmouth homes are single-family detached, 15% are in two- to four-unit buildings and 34% are in buildings of five or more units (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=060XX00US3301562900, checked 2026-10-19).
48% of Portsmouth homes are rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=060XX00US3301562900, checked 2026-10-19), so beside the 39% detached houses there is a real share of jobs where the landlord, not the resident, signs the quote.
Portsmouth has 26 points fewer detached houses than Rockingham County overall (65%) and 18 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=050XX00US33015, checked 2026-10-19).
48% of Portsmouth homes are rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=060XX00US3301562900, 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 10,902 occupied homes in Portsmouth, 51% heat with natural gas, 22% with heating oil, 18% with electricity and 5% with propane (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=060XX00US3301562900, checked 2026-10-19).
Gas leads in Portsmouth at 51%, but 27% of homes still burn delivered oil or propane, and those 2,944 or so homes are where a heat pump pays back fastest.
Portsmouth has 20 points less oil heat than Rockingham County as a whole, where 42% of homes burn oil, and 6 points more electric heat than the county's 12% (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=050XX00US33015, checked 2026-10-19).
Eversource lists Portsmouth among the New Hampshire communities it serves for electricity (New Hampshire Department of Energy, utilities by city and town, https://www.energy.nh.gov/utilities-providers/utilities-city-town, checked 2026-10-19).
NHSaves air source heat pump rebate, run by NHSaves (Eversource, Liberty, Unitil), is a live program for New Hampshire addresses and lists a standard figure of $250 (registry row 6 verified 2026-10-14, https://nhsaves.com/residential/electric-heating-cooling-equipment/, checked 2026-10-16); confirm eligibility for the Portsmouth address before counting it. With 18% of Portsmouth homes already on electric heat and 78% on gas, oil or propane, the row that applies depends on the name on the electric bill and the fuel coming out.
Portsmouth has 11,370 housing units, 33% built before 1940 and 66% before 1980, with 16% built in 2000 or later (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=060XX00US3301562900, checked 2026-10-19).
Portsmouth has 21 points more pre-1940 homes than Rockingham County as a whole (12%) and 7 points fewer homes built after 2000 than the county's 23% (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=050XX00US33015, checked 2026-10-19). An older stock means more insulation upgrades before the heat pump goes in.
The median Portsmouth home was built in 1959 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25035, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25035?g=060XX00US3301562900, checked 2026-10-19) and the median home has 4.9 rooms (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25018, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25018?g=060XX00US3301562900, checked 2026-10-19).
33% of Portsmouth homes were built before 1940 and 66% before 1980 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=060XX00US3301562900, checked 2026-10-19), so insulation is the first sizing question: an older home leaks more heat per square foot, and the installer runs a room-by-room heat-loss calculation to size the system for what the walls and windows actually hold in, not just the floor plan.
Heating design temperature: 0F. Source: ENERGY STAR Design Temperature Limit Reference Guide (2019 Edition), Rockingham County row, 99% heating, PDF page 81 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 0F figure is the Rockingham County cold-day number a Portsmouth heat pump is sized against, so ask the installer to show the system's heating output at 0F, not at the milder rating-label temperature.
Ask whether the quote is whole-home or partial-home, because with 51% of Portsmouth on gas and 18% already electric the two paths carry different rebate figures and different sizing.
Ask for the heat-loss calculation room by room; a Portsmouth house from before 1940 (33% of the 11,370 units) rarely matches a square-footage rule of thumb.
The form on this page is the follow-up for Portsmouth. The public number is the number the contractor quotes from.
No local contractor is named on this door for Portsmouth yet. A request from this page goes to the first licensed shop that takes the door.