Best states for solar in 2026
With no federal tax credit, rooftop solar pays for itself fastest in Hawaii (8.0 years), Massachusetts (8.6 years), Maine (9.4 years), Rhode Island (9.4 years) and Connecticut (10.3 years), for a home with a $150 monthly bill. It is slowest in Tennessee (36.7), South Dakota (34.4) and Arkansas (33.9). The ranking covers 50 states and uses official prices, solar output and installed costs.
What makes a state good for solar
The price of electricity matters more than sunshine. Each solar kilowatt-hour saves what the utility would have charged for it, so expensive power shortens payback. Of the 10 fastest states, 10 have a residential price above the US average of 18.19¢/kWh.
Sun still helps, but it does not win on its own. The three sunniest states in the data are New Mexico (1,810 kWh per kW a year, rank 11), Arizona (1,772 kWh per kW a year, rank 24) and Nevada (1,770 kWh per kW a year, rank 23). Cheap power and export credits below retail can push a sunny state down the list.
The third factor is how the utility pays for the power you send back. Under full net metering every exported kilowatt-hour offsets one you buy. Under net billing, exports earn less than retail, so a system sized to cover the whole bill earns less. See net metering vs net billing.
All 50 states ranked
| # | State | Payback | 25-yr net savings | Power price | Solar output | Export rule |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hawaii | 8.0 yrs | $16,203 | 46.3¢ | 1,669 | Net billing |
| 2 | Massachusetts | 8.6 yrs | $26,959 | 30.1¢ | 1,315 | Net metering |
| 3 | Maine | 9.4 yrs | $25,507 | 30.0¢ | 1,279 | Net metering |
| 4 | Rhode Island | 9.4 yrs | $25,433 | 29.2¢ | 1,307 | Net metering |
| 5 | Connecticut | 10.3 yrs | $20,461 | 28.0¢ | 1,327 | Net metering |
| 6 | New York | 10.4 yrs | $23,719 | 29.4¢ | 1,279 | Net metering |
| 7 | New Hampshire | 10.6 yrs | $23,265 | 26.8¢ | 1,264 | Net metering |
| 8 | California | 11.4 yrs | $11,389 | 33.3¢ | 1,676 | Net billing |
| 9 | New Jersey | 11.6 yrs | $21,440 | 24.0¢ | 1,325 | Net metering |
| 10 | Pennsylvania | 13.0 yrs | $19,086 | 21.0¢ | 1,321 | Net metering |
| 11 | New Mexico | 13.2 yrs | $18,660 | 15.1¢ | 1,810 | Net metering |
| 12 | Florida | 13.6 yrs | $17,874 | 15.3¢ | 1,487 | Net metering |
| 13 | Colorado | 13.7 yrs | $17,825 | 16.7¢ | 1,577 | Net metering |
| 14 | Maryland | 14.0 yrs | $17,118 | 21.3¢ | 1,337 | Net metering |
| 15 | Alaska | 14.7 yrs | $15,940 | 27.1¢ | 904 | Net metering |
| 16 | Virginia | 15.0 yrs | $15,362 | 16.8¢ | 1,424 | Net metering |
| 17 | Delaware | 15.2 yrs | $15,018 | 17.9¢ | 1,325 | Net metering |
| 18 | Kansas | 15.7 yrs | $14,149 | 15.2¢ | 1,508 | Net metering |
| 19 | Vermont | 15.8 yrs | $11,146 | 23.9¢ | 1,188 | Net billing |
| 20 | Wyoming | 16.6 yrs | $12,490 | 13.9¢ | 1,553 | Net metering |
| 21 | Oklahoma | 17.2 yrs | $11,516 | 13.6¢ | 1,545 | Net metering |
| 22 | Minnesota | 17.2 yrs | $11,392 | 16.3¢ | 1,286 | Net metering |
| 23 | Nevada | 17.7 yrs | $8,982 | 13.5¢ | 1,770 | Net billing |
| 24 | Arizona | 18.3 yrs | $5,893 | 15.4¢ | 1,772 | Net billing |
| 25 | Missouri | 18.5 yrs | $9,078 | 14.0¢ | 1,393 | Net metering |
| 26 | Washington | 18.6 yrs | $8,919 | 14.4¢ | 1,120 | Net metering |
| 27 | Iowa | 18.7 yrs | $8,747 | 14.2¢ | 1,356 | Net metering |
| 28 | Montana | 19.4 yrs | $7,448 | 13.9¢ | 1,329 | Net metering |
| 29 | Oregon | 19.8 yrs | $6,759 | 15.4¢ | 1,115 | Net metering |
| 30 | South Carolina | 19.9 yrs | $4,997 | 15.9¢ | 1,494 | Varies by utility |
| 31 | Michigan | 20.0 yrs | $4,311 | 21.5¢ | 1,249 | Net billing |
| 32 | Nebraska | 20.3 yrs | $5,947 | 12.9¢ | 1,378 | Net metering |
| 33 | North Carolina | 21.9 yrs | $2,648 | 14.9¢ | 1,425 | Net billing |
| 34 | Georgia | 23.4 yrs | $150 | 15.4¢ | 1,467 | Net billing |
| 35 | North Dakota | 23.7 yrs | $-258 | 12.4¢ | 1,229 | Net metering |
| 36 | West Virginia | 24.6 yrs | $-1,366 | 15.5¢ | 1,247 | Varies by utility |
| 37 | Ohio | 24.9 yrs | $-1,507 | 18.7¢ | 1,266 | Net billing |
| 38 | Illinois | 25.7 yrs | $-2,325 | 19.2¢ | 1,196 | Net billing |
| 39 | Mississippi | 25.7 yrs | $-2,468 | 15.2¢ | 1,441 | Net billing |
| 40 | Kentucky | 26.7 yrs | $-3,957 | 14.3¢ | 1,350 | Net billing |
| 41 | Indiana | 27.7 yrs | $-4,440 | 17.0¢ | 1,291 | Net billing |
| 42 | Alabama | 28.4 yrs | $-4,674 | 16.5¢ | 1,421 | Varies by utility |
| 43 | Texas | 29.7 yrs | $-6,433 | 16.1¢ | 1,445 | Varies by utility |
| 44 | Utah | 30.6 yrs | $-7,607 | 13.2¢ | 1,490 | Net billing |
| 45 | Wisconsin | 30.9 yrs | $-6,753 | 19.0¢ | 1,302 | Varies by utility |
| 46 | Idaho | 31.6 yrs | $-8,736 | 13.0¢ | 1,463 | Net billing |
| 47 | Louisiana | 32.6 yrs | $-9,238 | 13.3¢ | 1,453 | Net billing |
| 48 | Arkansas | 33.9 yrs | $-10,233 | 13.6¢ | 1,419 | Net billing |
| 49 | South Dakota | 34.4 yrs | $-10,339 | 14.5¢ | 1,362 | Varies by utility |
| 50 | Tennessee | 36.7 yrs | $-12,576 | 13.9¢ | 1,333 | Varies by utility |
Assumptions: a system sized to cover a year of use for a $150 monthly bill, paid in cash at the state's median installed price, no federal credit, 0.5% yearly panel degradation, 25 years, and today's electricity price held flat. Solar output is per kW of panels in each state's largest city. Payback is simple payback, not a quote. Sources: EIA Electric Power Monthly, table 5.6.B, residential average price, July 2026 YTD; PVGIS 5.2 (European Commission Joint Research Centre) with NSRDB solar radiation data; Berkeley Lab, Distributed Solar & Storage: 2026 Data Update (median installed price, host-owned residential PV installed in 2025).
Use this data
The table is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0with a link to this page. Download the CSV or get it fromGitHub, with a column dictionary.
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Source: <a href="https://solarbystate.com/best-states-for-solar/">Solar by State, best states for solar 2026</a>