Solar payback by state, ranked

Every US state + DC, ordered by how fast a typical home recovers its solar cost on electricity savings alone — the 30% federal credit ended for buyers in 2025. Pick yours for local numbers.

#	State	Rate	Payback	25-yr savings
1	Massachusetts	30.5¢	7.4 yrs	$77,250
2	Hawaii	41.1¢	7.6 yrs	$59,783
3	Rhode Island	29¢	7.7 yrs	$72,248
4	Maine	28.7¢	7.8 yrs	$71,134
5	New York	27.5¢	8.4 yrs	$66,193
6	New Hampshire	25.9¢	8.6 yrs	$61,870
7	California	33¢	9.3 yrs	$43,984
8	District of Columbia	22.3¢	9.5 yrs	$50,616
9	New Jersey	23.1¢	9.5 yrs	$52,333
10	Vermont	23.5¢	9.7 yrs	$52,755
11	Maryland	20.6¢	10.2 yrs	$44,878
12	New Mexico	15.2¢	10.5 yrs	$32,509
13	Colorado	16.3¢	10.8 yrs	$34,500
14	Pennsylvania	20.2¢	11.2 yrs	$41,637
15	Wisconsin	18.5¢	11.7 yrs	$36,948
16	Delaware	17.6¢	11.8 yrs	$34,867
17	Illinois	18.2¢	11.8 yrs	$35,856
18	Florida	15.4¢	12.4 yrs	$29,265
19	Ohio	17.8¢	12.5 yrs	$33,573
20	Minnesota	16.1¢	12.7 yrs	$29,857
21	South Carolina	15.5¢	12.7 yrs	$28,792
22	Virginia	16¢	12.8 yrs	$29,494
23	Connecticut	29.1¢	13.1 yrs	$30,468
24	West Virginia	15.6¢	14.0 yrs	$26,228
25	Missouri	13.8¢	14.1 yrs	$23,052
26	Montana	13.7¢	14.2 yrs	$22,692
27	Iowa	14¢	14.4 yrs	$22,872
28	Nebraska	12.8¢	14.6 yrs	$20,480
29	Oregon	15.5¢	14.7 yrs	$24,723
30	Arkansas	13.2¢	14.7 yrs	$21,081
31	Washington	13.8¢	16.8 yrs	$17,738
32	Arizona	15.5¢	17.2 yrs	$11,127
33	Alaska	26.6¢	17.3 yrs	$18,667
34	Michigan	20.5¢	17.7 yrs	$13,646
35	Texas	15.8¢	18.8 yrs	$9,031
36	Nevada	13.4¢	19.4 yrs	$6,991
37	Kansas	15¢	19.7 yrs	$7,475
38	Wyoming	14.1¢	20.1 yrs	$6,441
39	Alabama	16.4¢	20.9 yrs	$6,036
40	Utah	13.3¢	21.1 yrs	$4,886
41	Indiana	16.8¢	21.1 yrs	$5,826
42	North Carolina	14.5¢	21.4 yrs	$4,911
43	Georgia	14.9¢	21.9 yrs	$4,172
44	South Dakota	14¢	22.4 yrs	$3,369
45	Oklahoma	13.5¢	22.4 yrs	$3,204
46	Mississippi	14.7¢	22.8 yrs	$2,926
47	Kentucky	13.8¢	23.8 yrs	$1,679
48	North Dakota	12.4¢	24.3 yrs	$820
49	Tennessee	13.5¢	24.4 yrs	$700
50	Idaho	12.3¢	24.5 yrs	$624
51	Louisiana	13¢	25+ yrs	$-223

Ranked on typical household usage at each state’s own rate, at 3.00 $/W before incentives. Payback depends on your rate, roof and quotes, not the bill size. See methodology.

Why solar payback varies so much between states

The gap between the top and bottom of this table isn’t about the panels — the same hardware on the same roof can pay off in seven years in one state and over eighteen in another. Three things drive almost all of the spread:

Your electricity rate. Solar doesn’t earn money; it stops you spending it. So the more you pay per kilowatt-hour, the more every unit your panels produce is worth. This is why high-rate states like Hawaii, California and the Northeast dominate the top of the table, and cheap-power states in the Northwest and Mountain West sit at the bottom.
How much sun the state gets. A kilowatt of panels in Arizona makes roughly 50% more electricity a year than the same panels in Washington. Sunnier states get more value from an identical system, which is why some low-rate Sunbelt states still rank respectably.
What the utility pays for exports. Under full-retail net metering, power you send to the grid is worth as much as power you buy. Under newer export rates like California’s NEM 3.0, it’s credited at a fraction of retail — which lengthens payback even where power is expensive. Our ranking accounts for each state’s net-metering reality, not a rosy full-retail assumption.

How to read this table

Every row uses that state’s own EIA average residential rate, its NREL sunshine, and its current export rules — with no federal tax credit, because the 30% residential credit ended for purchased systems on 31 December 2025. The payback figure is the number of years of electricity-bill savings it takes to recover the system’s cost. It’s a like-for-like comparison across states, not a quote for your home: your real number depends on your actual rate, your roof and shading, and the price you’re quoted. Click any state for its local breakdown — major utilities, net-metering specifics, remaining incentives, and a typical installed cost.

These are independent estimates for guidance only — not quotes or financial advice. Always get itemised quotes before buying. Want your own figure? Open the solar payback calculator →