Portland / Machias
Machias has 2,020 residents (give or take 413) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B01003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B01003?g=060XX00US2302941960, checked 2026-10-19), about 145 people per square mile.
Machias is about 154 miles from the Census center point for Portland in a straight line and covers 13.886 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).
Machias is spread out at 145 people per square mile across 13.886 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 791 occupied homes in Machias, 0% heat with natural gas, 59% with heating oil, 21% with electricity and 12% with propane (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=060XX00US2302941960, checked 2026-10-19).
Heating oil is the largest single fuel in Machias at 59%, ahead of electricity at 21%, 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.
Machias has about the Washington County oil share of 59% and 13 points more electric heat than the county's 8% (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=050XX00US23029, checked 2026-10-19).
Machias has 985 housing units, 31% built before 1940 and 73% before 1980, with 15% built in 2000 or later (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=060XX00US2302941960, checked 2026-10-19).
Machias has 4 points more pre-1940 homes than Washington County as a whole (27%) and 3 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=050XX00US23029, checked 2026-10-19). An older stock means more insulation upgrades before the heat pump goes in.
The median Machias home was built in 1971 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25035, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25035?g=060XX00US2302941960, checked 2026-10-19) and the median home has 4.7 rooms (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25018, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25018?g=060XX00US2302941960, checked 2026-10-19).
54% of Machias homes are single-family detached, 19% are in two- to four-unit buildings and 16% are in buildings of five or more units (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=060XX00US2302941960, checked 2026-10-19).
50% of Machias homes are rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=060XX00US2302941960, checked 2026-10-19), so beside the 54% detached houses there is a real share of jobs where the landlord, not the resident, signs the quote.
Machias has 27 points fewer detached houses than Washington County overall (81%) and 13 points more five-plus-unit buildings than the county's 3% (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=050XX00US23029, checked 2026-10-19).
50% of Machias homes are rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=060XX00US2302941960, 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.
31% of Machias homes were built before 1940 and 73% before 1980 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=060XX00US2302941960, 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.
No electric utility is on file for Machias on this door yet, so this page does not name one; the name on the bill decides which rebate path applies.
Efficiency Maine whole-home heat pump rebate, run by Efficiency Maine, is a live program for Maine addresses and lists a standard figure of $3,000 (registry row 7 verified 2026-10-15, https://www.efficiencymaine.com/whole-home-heat-pump-rebates/, checked 2026-10-16); confirm eligibility for the Machias address before counting it. With 21% of Machias homes already on electric heat and 71% on gas, oil or propane, the row that applies depends on the name on the electric bill and the fuel coming out.
Median household income in Machias is $34,375 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B19013, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B19013?g=060XX00US2302941960, 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.
Heating design temperature: 7F. Source: ENERGY STAR Design Temperature Limit Reference Guide (2019 Edition), Washington County row, 99% heating, PDF pages 54 to 55 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 7F figure is the Washington County cold-day number a Machias heat pump is sized against, so ask the installer to show the system's heating output at 7F, not at the milder rating-label temperature.
Ask what happens to the oil tank, since 59% of the 791 occupied Machias homes have one and removal is usually a separate line on the quote.
Ask for the heat-loss calculation room by room; a Machias house from before 1940 (31% of the 985 units) rarely matches a square-footage rule of thumb.
The form on this page is the follow-up for Machias. The public number is the number the contractor quotes from.
No local contractor is named on this door for Machias yet. A request from this page goes to the first licensed shop that takes the door.