Harrisburg / Palmerton
Palmerton has 5,622 residents (give or take 21) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B01003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B01003?g=160XX00US4257696, checked 2026-10-19), about 2,262 people per square mile.
Palmerton is about 76 miles from the Census center point for Harrisburg in a straight line and covers 2.485 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).
Median household income in Palmerton is $68,143 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B19013, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B19013?g=160XX00US4257696, 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.
48% of Palmerton homes are single-family detached, 7% are in two- to four-unit buildings and 21% are in buildings of five or more units (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=160XX00US4257696, checked 2026-10-19).
42% of Palmerton homes are rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=160XX00US4257696, checked 2026-10-19), so beside the 48% detached houses there is a real share of jobs where the landlord, not the resident, signs the quote.
Palmerton has 21 points fewer detached houses than Carbon County overall (69%) and 16 points more five-plus-unit buildings than the county's 5% (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=050XX00US42025, checked 2026-10-19).
42% of Palmerton homes are rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=160XX00US4257696, 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 2,802 occupied homes in Palmerton, 20% heat with natural gas, 38% with heating oil, 39% with electricity and 1% with propane (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=160XX00US4257696, checked 2026-10-19).
Electricity already heats 39% of Palmerton homes, ahead of oil at 38%, and a home on electric baseboard sees the biggest bill change from a heat pump because it replaces resistance heat one for one.
Palmerton has about the Carbon County oil share of 40% and 7 points more electric heat than the county's 32% (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=050XX00US42025, checked 2026-10-19).
No electric utility is on file for Palmerton on this door yet, so this page does not name one; the name on the bill decides which rebate path applies.
Palmerton has 2,870 housing units, 43% built before 1940 and 79% before 1980, with 7% built in 2000 or later (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=160XX00US4257696, checked 2026-10-19).
Palmerton has 13 points more pre-1940 homes than Carbon County as a whole (30%) and 7 points fewer homes built after 2000 than the county's 14% (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=050XX00US42025, checked 2026-10-19). An older stock means more insulation upgrades before the heat pump goes in.
The median Palmerton home was built in 1947 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25035, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25035?g=160XX00US4257696, 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=160XX00US4257696, checked 2026-10-19).
43% of Palmerton homes were built before 1940 and 79% before 1980 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=160XX00US4257696, 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: 5F. Source: ENERGY STAR Design Temperature Limit Reference Guide (2019 Edition), Carbon County row, 99% heating, PDF pages 102 to 105 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 5F figure is the Carbon County cold-day number a Palmerton heat pump is sized against, so ask the installer to show the system's heating output at 5F, not at the milder rating-label temperature.
Ask for the heat-loss calculation room by room; a Palmerton house from before 1940 (43% of the 2,870 units) rarely matches a square-footage rule of thumb.
The form on this page is the follow-up for Palmerton. The public number is the number the contractor quotes from.
No local contractor is named on this door for Palmerton yet. A request from this page goes to the first licensed shop that takes the door.