Providence / Johnston
Johnston is about 5 miles from the Census center point for Providence in a straight line and covers 23.477 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).
Johnston has 29,835 residents (give or take 27) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B01003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B01003?g=060XX00US4400737720, checked 2026-10-19), about 1,271 people per square mile.
The quote form takes a ZIP code; for Johnston that is 02919 (Census 2020 ZCTA to county subdivision relationship file, ZIP areas at least 20% inside the town, https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/rel2020/zcta520/tab20_zcta520_cousub20_natl.txt, checked 2026-10-19).
Of the 11,675 occupied homes in Johnston, 58% heat with natural gas, 32% with heating oil, 5% with electricity and 3% with propane (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=060XX00US4400737720, checked 2026-10-19).
Johnston has 12 points more oil heat than Providence County as a whole, where 20% of homes burn oil, and 8 points less electric heat than the county's 13% (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=050XX00US44007, checked 2026-10-19).
Gas leads in Johnston at 58%, but 35% of homes still burn delivered oil or propane, and those 4,086 or so homes are where a heat pump pays back fastest.
The median Johnston home was built in 1968 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25035, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25035?g=060XX00US4400737720, 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=060XX00US4400737720, checked 2026-10-19).
Johnston has 12,328 housing units, 14% built before 1940 and 69% before 1980, with 8% built in 2000 or later (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=060XX00US4400737720, checked 2026-10-19).
Johnston has 22 points fewer pre-1940 homes than Providence County as a whole (36%) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=050XX00US44007, checked 2026-10-19).
Only 8% of Johnston homes are new enough to pass a weatherization check on age, and 14% date from before 1940, so most of the other 92% show it with an assessment: Clean Heat Rhode Island requires that the home must be sufficiently weatherized: built on or after January 1, 2000, or all weatherization recommendations completed, or a home energy assessment showing under $1,000 in recommended work (Clean Heat Rhode Island incentives, registry row 2 verified 2026-10-14, https://cleanheatri.com/incentives, checked 2026-10-19).
72% of Johnston homes are single-family detached, 12% are in two- to four-unit buildings and 12% are in buildings of five or more units (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=060XX00US4400737720, checked 2026-10-19).
With 72% detached houses and 12% in small multi-family buildings, a Johnston quote is usually one or two outdoor units with ducted or ductless heads sized room by room. With 24% of Johnston homes rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=060XX00US4400737720, checked 2026-10-19), the landlord signs the quote in many of them.
Johnston has 27 points more detached houses than Providence County overall (45%) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=050XX00US44007, checked 2026-10-19).
Rhode Island Energy publishes no town-by-town service list that names Johnston, so this page does not say which utility bills the 11,675 occupied homes in Johnston; the state energy office says: "Rhode Island Energy, the largest of the three, manages the distribution system for 99 percent of the state; Block Island Power Company and the Pascoag Utility District serve the remaining areas on Block Island and in western Burrillville, respectively." (Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources, Learn About Electricity (electric distribution utilities and the areas they serve), https://energy.ri.gov/electric/learn-about-electricity, checked 2026-10-19). The name on the electric bill decides which rebate path applies.
If the Johnston electric bill comes from Rhode Island Energy, the standard heat pump rebate is up to $625 per ton for Rhode Island Energy customers switching to central or mini-split electric heat pump equipment, and the enhanced rebate is $1,500 per ton for homes that currently heat with electric baseboards, for equipment installed through December 31, 2026; it is not income-based (Rhode Island Energy residential heat pump rebate, registry row 35 verified 2026-10-16, https://rienergy.com/site/ways-to-save/save-money-with-rebates-and-incentives/electric-heating-and-cooling, checked 2026-10-19). Electricity already heats 5% of Johnston homes, about 584 of them, and those on baseboard are the ones the enhanced tier is written for.
Clean Heat Rhode Island is the state income-eligible program, separate from the utility rebate: it pays 60% of the heat pump system and installation cost up to $11,500 per address, with a $18,000 lifetime cap per address, for household income below 150% of state median income, for homes whose existing primary heat is natural gas, propane or oil; in Johnston that is about 10,858 of the 11,675 occupied homes, the 58% on gas, 32% on oil and 3% on propane, and it is available to all Rhode Island electric utility customers (Rhode Island Energy, Clear River, Block Island Power) (Clean Heat Rhode Island incentives, registry row 2 verified 2026-10-14, https://cleanheatri.com/incentives, checked 2026-10-19).
Median household income in Johnston is $91,866 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B19013, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B19013?g=060XX00US4400737720, checked 2026-10-19); Clean Heat Rhode Island is for household income below 150% of state median income, and the Johnston median sits under the one-person limit of $124,950 published for the program (Clean Heat Rhode Island incentives, registry row 2 verified 2026-10-14, https://cleanheatri.com/incentives, checked 2026-10-19), though the limit rises with household size and is decided household by household.
Heating design temperature: 2F. Source: ENERGY STAR Design Temperature Limit Reference Guide (2019 Edition), Providence County row, 99% heating, PDF page 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 2F figure is the Providence County cold-day number a Johnston heat pump is sized against, so ask the installer to show the system's heating output at 2F, not at the milder rating-label temperature.
Ask which rooms the heat pump will carry and whether the gas boiler stays, because with 58% of Johnston on gas and 5% already electric the income-eligible program pays on fossil displacement in the zones served and the utility rebate pays per ton.
Ask for the heat-loss calculation room by room; the median Johnston home has 5.6 rooms and was built around 1968, and the count of heads and the tonnage follow the rooms and the insulation, not the square footage.
The form on this page is the follow-up for Johnston. The public number is the number the contractor quotes from.
No local contractor is named on this door for Johnston yet. A request from this page goes to the first licensed shop that takes the door.