Pittsburgh / New Castle
New Castle has 21,579 residents (give or take 42) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B01003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B01003?g=160XX00US4253368, checked 2026-10-19), about 2,598 people per square mile.
New Castle is about 43 miles from the Census center point for Pittsburgh in a straight line and covers 8.307 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).
Of the 9,406 occupied homes in New Castle, 79% heat with natural gas, 2% with heating oil, 17% with electricity and 1% with propane (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=160XX00US4253368, checked 2026-10-19).
Gas heats 79% of New Castle against electricity at 17%, so most quotes here are a partial-home system that carries the shoulder seasons and the summer while the gas furnace handles the coldest nights, or a whole-home system when the house is ready for it.
New Castle has 8 points less oil heat than Lawrence County as a whole, where 10% of homes burn oil, and 8 points less electric heat than the county's 25% (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=050XX00US42073, checked 2026-10-19).
New Castle has 10,622 housing units, 45% built before 1940 and 94% before 1980, with 1% built in 2000 or later (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=160XX00US4253368, checked 2026-10-19).
New Castle has 17 points more pre-1940 homes than Lawrence County as a whole (28%) and 8 points fewer homes built after 2000 than the county's 9% (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=050XX00US42073, checked 2026-10-19). An older stock means more insulation upgrades before the heat pump goes in.
The median New Castle home was built in 1944 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25035, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25035?g=160XX00US4253368, checked 2026-10-19) and the median home has 5.8 rooms (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25018, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25018?g=160XX00US4253368, checked 2026-10-19).
73% of New Castle homes are single-family detached, 9% are in two- to four-unit buildings and 14% are in buildings of five or more units (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=160XX00US4253368, checked 2026-10-19).
With 73% detached houses and 9% in small multi-family buildings, a New Castle quote is usually one or two outdoor units with ducted or ductless heads sized room by room. With 45% of New Castle homes rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=160XX00US4253368, checked 2026-10-19), the landlord signs the quote in many of them.
New Castle has 5 points fewer detached houses than Lawrence County overall (78%) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=050XX00US42073, checked 2026-10-19).
45% of New Castle homes are rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=160XX00US4253368, 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.
45% of New Castle homes were built before 1940 and 94% before 1980 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=160XX00US4253368, 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 New Castle on this door yet, so this page does not name one; the name on the bill decides which rebate path applies.
PPL Electric Savings Phase V heat pump rebate, run by PPL Electric Utilities, is a live program for Pennsylvania addresses and lists a standard figure of $225 (registry row 16 verified 2026-10-15, https://www.pplelectricsavings.com/ppl/media/allresrebates_612026.pdf, checked 2026-10-16); confirm eligibility for the New Castle address before counting it. With 17% of New Castle homes already on electric heat and 82% on gas, oil or propane, the row that applies depends on the name on the electric bill and the fuel coming out.
PECO heating and cooling rebates (ASHP), run by PECO, is a live program for Pennsylvania addresses and covers qualifying equipment at $1,950 per system (registry row 17 verified 2026-10-14, https://pecohomerebateprogram.com/heating-cooling-rebates.html, checked 2026-10-16); confirm eligibility for the New Castle address before counting it.
Duquesne Light residential HVAC instant discounts (ASHP), run by Duquesne Light, is a live program for Pennsylvania addresses and lists a standard figure of $215 (registry row 49 verified 2026-10-15, https://dlcinstantdiscount.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/DLC-Residential-HVAC-Product-Incentives-Customers-v260806.pdf, checked 2026-10-16); confirm eligibility for the New Castle address before counting it.
Median household income in New Castle is $42,219 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B19013, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B19013?g=160XX00US4253368, 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: 5F. Source: ENERGY STAR Design Temperature Limit Reference Guide (2019 Edition), Lawrence 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 Lawrence County cold-day number a New Castle 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 whether the quote is whole-home or partial-home, because with 79% of New Castle on gas and 17% already electric the two paths carry different rebate figures and different sizing.
Ask for the heat-loss calculation room by room; a New Castle house from before 1940 (45% of the 10,622 units) rarely matches a square-footage rule of thumb.
The form on this page is the follow-up for New Castle. The public number is the number the contractor quotes from.
No local contractor is named on this door for New Castle yet. A request from this page goes to the first licensed shop that takes the door.