Solar data by state, all 51 rows
This is every number the calculator on this site runs on, for all 50 states and the District of Columbia: the average residential electricity rate, daily peak sun hours, installed cost per watt before incentives, the long-run annual rate escalation, the headline statewide incentive where one exists, and what the state pays for exported power.
Every figure is a modelled state average. None of them is a quote, and none of them is what your own utility charges you this month. Rates move quarterly, incentive budgets run dry mid-year, and export rules get litigated constantly. Treat the table as a starting point that is honest about being one.
No federal homeowner tax credit is in the net cost column. The 30% residential clean energy credit under IRC Sec. 25D ended for systems placed in service after December 31, 2025. The formulas behind every column are on the methodology page.
The table
| State | Rate ¢/kWh | Sun hrs/day | $ / watt | Escalation | State incentive | 8 kW net cost | Payback |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 15.4 | 4.5 | $2.70 | 2.8% | none | $21,600 | 13.3 yrs |
| Alaska | 24.5 | 3.0 | $3.50 | 3.0% | none | $28,000 | 16.3 yrs |
| Arizona | 14.5 | 6.0 | $2.50 | 3.0% | $1,000 | $19,000 | 9.3 yrs |
| Arkansas | 12.6 | 4.6 | $2.75 | 2.7% | none | $22,000 | 16.2 yrs |
| California | 31.8 | 5.5 | $3.30 | 4.0% | none | $26,400 | 6.5 yrs |
| Colorado | 15.0 | 5.4 | $2.90 | 3.0% | none | $23,200 | 12.3 yrs |
| Connecticut | 27.5 | 4.2 | $3.20 | 3.3% | none | $25,600 | 9.5 yrs |
| Delaware | 16.5 | 4.4 | $2.90 | 2.8% | $2,500 | $20,700 | 12.2 yrs |
| District of Columbia | 16.8 | 4.3 | $3.00 | 3.0% | $6,000 | $18,000 | 10.7 yrs |
| Florida | 15.3 | 5.2 | $2.45 | 3.0% | none | $19,600 | 10.5 yrs |
| Georgia | 14.5 | 4.8 | $2.60 | 3.0% | none | $20,800 | 12.8 yrs |
| Hawaii | 41.5 | 5.7 | $3.60 | 3.5% | $5,000 | $23,800 | 4.3 yrs |
| Idaho | 11.5 | 4.9 | $2.70 | 2.6% | $800 | $20,800 | 15.8 yrs |
| Illinois | 16.5 | 4.3 | $3.00 | 3.0% | $5,000 | $19,000 | 11.5 yrs |
| Indiana | 15.0 | 4.2 | $2.80 | 3.0% | none | $22,400 | 15.2 yrs |
| Iowa | 13.5 | 4.4 | $2.85 | 2.7% | none | $22,800 | 16.4 yrs |
| Kansas | 14.2 | 5.0 | $2.75 | 2.8% | none | $22,000 | 13.3 yrs |
| Kentucky | 13.0 | 4.2 | $2.80 | 2.8% | none | $22,400 | 17.6 yrs |
| Louisiana | 12.8 | 4.7 | $2.75 | 2.8% | none | $22,000 | 15.7 yrs |
| Maine | 25.5 | 4.2 | $3.00 | 3.2% | none | $24,000 | 9.6 yrs |
| Maryland | 17.5 | 4.4 | $2.90 | 3.0% | $2,500 | $20,700 | 11.5 yrs |
| Massachusetts | 30.5 | 4.3 | $3.40 | 3.5% | $3,500 | $23,700 | 7.7 yrs |
| Michigan | 19.0 | 4.0 | $2.90 | 3.0% | none | $23,200 | 13.1 yrs |
| Minnesota | 15.0 | 4.3 | $3.00 | 2.9% | none | $24,000 | 15.9 yrs |
| Mississippi | 13.5 | 4.7 | $2.75 | 2.8% | none | $22,000 | 14.8 yrs |
| Missouri | 12.5 | 4.6 | $2.75 | 2.7% | none | $22,000 | 16.4 yrs |
| Montana | 12.5 | 4.5 | $2.95 | 2.7% | $500 | $23,100 | 17.6 yrs |
| Nebraska | 11.5 | 4.8 | $2.80 | 2.6% | none | $22,400 | 17.4 yrs |
| Nevada | 16.5 | 6.0 | $2.60 | 3.0% | none | $20,800 | 9.0 yrs |
| New Hampshire | 25.5 | 4.2 | $3.10 | 3.2% | $1,000 | $23,800 | 9.5 yrs |
| New Jersey | 20.5 | 4.4 | $3.10 | 3.0% | $4,000 | $20,800 | 9.9 yrs |
| New Mexico | 14.5 | 6.2 | $2.75 | 2.8% | $2,500 | $19,500 | 9.3 yrs |
| New York | 24.5 | 4.0 | $3.40 | 3.3% | $4,500 | $22,700 | 9.9 yrs |
| North Carolina | 13.5 | 4.7 | $2.60 | 2.9% | none | $20,800 | 14.0 yrs |
| North Dakota | 10.8 | 4.5 | $2.95 | 2.5% | none | $23,600 | 20.8 yrs |
| Ohio | 15.5 | 4.1 | $2.80 | 2.9% | none | $22,400 | 15.1 yrs |
| Oklahoma | 12.0 | 5.1 | $2.70 | 2.7% | none | $21,600 | 15.1 yrs |
| Oregon | 13.5 | 4.0 | $2.80 | 3.0% | $1,500 | $20,900 | 16.6 yrs |
| Pennsylvania | 18.0 | 4.1 | $2.80 | 3.0% | $1,500 | $20,900 | 12.1 yrs |
| Rhode Island | 27.5 | 4.3 | $3.20 | 3.3% | $2,500 | $23,100 | 8.4 yrs |
| South Carolina | 14.5 | 4.8 | $2.65 | 2.9% | $3,500 | $17,700 | 10.9 yrs |
| South Dakota | 12.5 | 4.7 | $2.90 | 2.6% | none | $23,200 | 16.9 yrs |
| Tennessee | 13.0 | 4.4 | $2.70 | 2.8% | none | $21,600 | 16.2 yrs |
| Texas | 15.0 | 5.1 | $2.55 | 3.0% | none | $20,400 | 11.4 yrs |
| Utah | 11.5 | 5.4 | $2.55 | 2.7% | none | $20,400 | 14.1 yrs |
| Vermont | 21.5 | 4.0 | $3.20 | 3.0% | none | $25,600 | 12.7 yrs |
| Virginia | 14.5 | 4.5 | $2.70 | 2.9% | none | $21,600 | 14.2 yrs |
| Washington | 11.5 | 3.7 | $2.90 | 2.8% | none | $23,200 | 23.3 yrs |
| West Virginia | 14.5 | 4.1 | $2.85 | 3.0% | none | $22,800 | 16.4 yrs |
| Wisconsin | 17.0 | 4.2 | $3.00 | 3.0% | $500 | $23,500 | 14.1 yrs |
| Wyoming | 11.5 | 5.3 | $2.90 | 2.6% | none | $23,200 | 16.3 yrs |
Net cost and payback are an 8 kW system modelled on that state’s own inputs: production is 8 kW × sun hours × 365 × 0.80, savings value that production at the state rate for year one, and net cost is gross cost minus whatever state money is still open. Payback is simple, undiscounted, and does not credit rate escalation. State incentive is modelled at its published cap, which is not a promise you clear it.
What each column means
- Rate ¢/kWh
- Average residential retail price, from EIA Electric Power Monthly Table 5.6.A. It bundles generation, transmission, distribution and riders, which is why it is higher than the generation rate a supplier quotes you.
- Sun hrs/day
- Daily average peak sun hours for a south-facing fixed array at a representative site in the state, from NREL's PVWatts and NSRDB data. A north-facing roof or a shaded one gets less.
- $ / watt
- Modelled gross installed residential cost per watt DC before any incentive, calibrated to NREL's residential benchmark plus the regional labour and permitting spread visible in LBNL's Tracking the Sun. Range across the country here is $2.40 to $3.60.
- Escalation
- Long-run annual retail rate escalation, taken from each state's own EIA price history. Nationally around 2.5% a year. It is the number the 25-year model compounds, and the single assumption most worth arguing with.
- State incentive
- The headline statewide residential program, from DSIRE, valued at its cap for an 8 kW system. Blank means no meaningful statewide residential program — not that no utility or municipal program exists.
- 8 kW net cost
- Gross cost minus state money that is still open on the date this page was built. No federal homeowner credit, because there is not one.
- Payback
- Net cost divided by first-year savings. Undiscounted, no escalation credit, no maintenance cost, no inverter replacement. Deliberately the pessimistic version.
Licence and attribution
The dataset is published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. You can copy it, republish it, chart it, feed it to a model, or build something else on top of it, commercially or not.
The one condition is credit. Cite it as: Data from killmyenergybill.com, CC BY 4.0, with a link to killmyenergybill.com/data. If you are writing something and want a figure checked, or a column we do not publish, say so rather than guessing.
The underlying sources — EIA, NREL and DSIRE — are public and their own terms apply to them. The licence here covers our compilation and our modelled fields, not their raw data.
Every figure here is modelled
Worth repeating, because a table like this gets quoted as fact. These are averages across an entire state. A state average rate hides a two-fold spread between utilities inside the same border. Peak sun hours at one representative site do not describe a coastal fog belt and a high desert equally well. Cost per watt varies more by installer than by state.
What the numbers are good for is comparison and order of magnitude: which states have rates high enough for solar to make sense, where payback is plausible, where the export rule has quietly changed the answer. What they are not good for is signing a contract.
Data reviewed on a rolling basis, state by state. Each state page carries its own review date rather than sharing one.