Columbus / Mount Vernon
Mount Vernon has 17,052 residents (give or take 36) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B01003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B01003?g=160XX00US3953102, checked 2026-10-19), about 1,719 people per square mile.
Mount Vernon is about 39 miles from the Census center point for Columbus in a straight line and covers 9.92 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 7,100 occupied homes in Mount Vernon, 77% heat with natural gas, 0% with heating oil, 19% with electricity and 3% with propane (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=160XX00US3953102, checked 2026-10-19).
Gas heats 77% of Mount Vernon against electricity at 19%, 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.
Mount Vernon has about the Knox County oil share of 2% and the same 19% electric share (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=050XX00US39083, checked 2026-10-19).
Mount Vernon has 7,806 housing units, 35% built before 1940 and 78% before 1980, with 9% built in 2000 or later (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=160XX00US3953102, checked 2026-10-19).
Mount Vernon has 9 points more pre-1940 homes than Knox County as a whole (26%) and 11 points fewer homes built after 2000 than the county's 20% (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=050XX00US39083, checked 2026-10-19). An older stock means more insulation upgrades before the heat pump goes in.
The median Mount Vernon home was built in 1955 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25035, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25035?g=160XX00US3953102, checked 2026-10-19) and the median home has 5.9 rooms (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25018, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25018?g=160XX00US3953102, checked 2026-10-19).
66% of Mount Vernon homes are single-family detached, 16% 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=160XX00US3953102, checked 2026-10-19).
45% of Mount Vernon homes are rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=160XX00US3953102, checked 2026-10-19), so beside the 66% detached houses there is a real share of jobs where the landlord, not the resident, signs the quote.
Mount Vernon has 17 points fewer detached houses than Knox County overall (83%) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=050XX00US39083, checked 2026-10-19).
45% of Mount Vernon homes are rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=160XX00US3953102, 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.
35% of Mount Vernon homes were built before 1940 and 78% before 1980 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=160XX00US3953102, 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 Mount Vernon on this door yet, so this page does not name one; the name on the bill decides which rebate path applies.
Median household income in Mount Vernon is $53,845 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B19013, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B19013?g=160XX00US3953102, 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), Knox County row, 99% heating, PDF pages 94 to 97 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 Knox County cold-day number a Mount Vernon 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 77% of Mount Vernon on gas and 19% already electric the two paths carry different rebate figures and different sizing.
Ask for the heat-loss calculation room by room; a Mount Vernon house from before 1940 (35% of the 7,806 units) rarely matches a square-footage rule of thumb.
The form on this page is the follow-up for Mount Vernon. The public number is the number the contractor quotes from.
No local contractor is named on this door for Mount Vernon yet. A request from this page goes to the first licensed shop that takes the door.