Newark / Rockaway
Rockaway has 6,613 residents (give or take 18) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B01003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B01003?g=160XX00US3464050, checked 2026-10-19), about 3,185 people per square mile.
Rockaway is about 22 miles from the Census center point for Newark in a straight line and covers 2.076 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).
3,185 people per square mile puts Rockaway in suburban density, where the outdoor unit usually sits in a side yard and the noise is not an issue for neighbors.
Of the 2,711 occupied homes in Rockaway, 74% heat with natural gas, 12% with heating oil, 14% with electricity and 0% with propane (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=160XX00US3464050, checked 2026-10-19).
Gas heats 74% of Rockaway against electricity at 14%, 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.
Rockaway has about the Morris County oil share of 14% and 2 points more electric heat than the county's 12% (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=050XX00US34027, checked 2026-10-19).
Rockaway has 2,761 housing units, 30% built before 1940 and 83% before 1980, with 5% built in 2000 or later (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=160XX00US3464050, checked 2026-10-19).
Rockaway has 18 points more pre-1940 homes than Morris County as a whole (12%) and 9 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=050XX00US34027, checked 2026-10-19). An older stock means more insulation upgrades before the heat pump goes in.
The median Rockaway home was built in 1960 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25035, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25035?g=160XX00US3464050, 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=160XX00US3464050, checked 2026-10-19).
55% of Rockaway homes are single-family detached, 7% are in two- to four-unit buildings and 32% are in buildings of five or more units (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=160XX00US3464050, checked 2026-10-19).
40% of Rockaway homes are rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=160XX00US3464050, checked 2026-10-19), so beside the 55% detached houses there is a real share of jobs where the landlord, not the resident, signs the quote.
Rockaway has 10 points fewer detached houses than Morris County overall (65%) and 13 points more five-plus-unit buildings than the county's 19% (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=050XX00US34027, checked 2026-10-19).
40% of Rockaway homes are rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=160XX00US3464050, 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.
30% of Rockaway homes were built before 1940 and 83% before 1980 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=160XX00US3464050, 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 Rockaway on this door yet, so this page does not name one; the name on the bill decides which rebate path applies.
JCP&L Clean Comfort (residential building decarbonization), run by JCP&L, is a live program for New Jersey addresses and covers qualifying equipment at $7,500 per system (registry row 8 verified 2026-10-15, https://www.neifund.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/0925_JCPL_Res_Bldg-Decarb_5860532_FRM_Rebate-Application_2025.pdf, checked 2026-10-16); confirm eligibility for the Rockaway address before counting it. With 14% of Rockaway homes already on electric heat and 86% 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 Rockaway is $107,053 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B19013, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B19013?g=160XX00US3464050, 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: 6F. Source: ENERGY STAR Design Temperature Limit Reference Guide (2019 Edition), Morris County row, 99% heating, PDF pages 81 to 82 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 6F figure is the Morris County cold-day number a Rockaway heat pump is sized against, so ask the installer to show the system's heating output at 6F, not at the milder rating-label temperature.
Ask whether the quote is whole-home or partial-home, because with 74% of Rockaway on gas and 14% already electric the two paths carry different rebate figures and different sizing.
Ask for the heat-loss calculation room by room; a Rockaway house from before 1940 (30% of the 2,761 units) rarely matches a square-footage rule of thumb.
The form on this page is the follow-up for Rockaway. The public number is the number the contractor quotes from.
No local contractor is named on this door for Rockaway yet. A request from this page goes to the first licensed shop that takes the door.