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Rooftop solar by state: installations, capacity, and what a solar kWh offsets
EIA counts rooftop solar through utility net-metering filings, and the 2024 count is 5,077,543 residential installations with 35,514 MW of capacity — an average system of about 7.0 kW. California alone holds 2,090,983 installations, more than the next four states combined. This page publishes what EIA counts, and is explicit about what it does not: EIA publishes no rooftop system prices, so there are no installation-cost figures here.
| State | Residential net-metered solar installations, 2024 | Capacity | Average system size |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 2,090,983 | 12,719.8 MW | 6.1 kW |
| Florida | 289,774 | 2,683.6 MW | 9.3 kW |
| Arizona | 317,033 | 2,572.2 MW | 8.1 kW |
| New York | 226,979 | 1,572.5 MW | 6.9 kW |
| New Jersey | 199,822 | 1,481.5 MW | 7.4 kW |
| Massachusetts | 189,611 | 1,304.7 MW | 6.9 kW |
| Texas | 133,501 | 1,084.5 MW | 8.1 kW |
| Colorado | 179,751 | 1,074.2 MW | 6.0 kW |
| Nevada | 134,257 | 1,024.8 MW | 7.6 kW |
| Maryland | 108,428 | 898.8 MW | 8.3 kW |
| Illinois | 103,145 | 854.6 MW | 8.3 kW |
| Connecticut | 103,824 | 800.6 MW | 7.7 kW |
| Pennsylvania | 81,375 | 677.4 MW | 8.3 kW |
| Utah | 81,115 | 579.3 MW | 7.1 kW |
| Hawaii | 98,418 | 531.7 MW | 5.4 kW |
| Virginia | 69,553 | 515.0 MW | 7.4 kW |
| Washington | 59,235 | 454.2 MW | 7.7 kW |
| North Carolina | 57,393 | 427.1 MW | 7.4 kW |
| Oregon | 52,600 | 400.1 MW | 7.6 kW |
| New Mexico | 61,209 | 380.5 MW | 6.2 kW |
State figures are summed from the utility-level filings in EIA's Form EIA-861 2024 net metering data file; the average size column is capacity divided by installations. Net metering counts systems that export power to the grid under a net metering arrangement — most, but not all, rooftop solar.
Every kWh your panels produce and your home uses is a kWh you don’t buy. Price your usage at your state’s published average rate to size the offset.
Open the energy cost calculatorThe value of a solar kWh: the offset, priced honestly
A rooftop kWh has two possible values, and only one of them has an official price. A kWh your home uses directly displaces a kWh you would otherwise buy at your state's average residential price — 16.48¢ nationally in 2024, from 11.51¢ in North Dakota to 42.86¢ in Hawaii (the full table is in the electricity guide). That displacement value is the solid number: a system that produces 800 kWh in a month and a home that uses all of it avoids buying 800 kWh at the local average price.
A kWh exported to the grid is compensated under your utility's net metering or export tariff, which varies by state, utility, and plan — EIA does not publish export rates, and they change by rulemaking. We publish no average for them. Any payback estimate that does not separate self-consumed from exported energy, and price each at its own rate, is skipping the step that decides the answer.
What EIA does not publish about solar
- System prices and installation quotes. Not collected by EIA; any $/watt figure elsewhere comes from industry surveys, not official statistics, and is outside this site's sources.
- Per-system generation. The net metering file counts capacity and installations; energy sold back is reported too unevenly across utilities to total honestly, so we do not total it.
- Non-net-metered systems. Off-grid and zero-export systems are outside the count by definition.
Storage is the fast-growing companion to these systems — see home battery storage by state for how many of these installations pair panels with a battery.
Sources: EIA — Form EIA-861 2024 data files, Net Metering (utility filings, summed by state) · EIA — Electric Sales, Revenue & Average Price 2024, Table 5A (Form EIA-861). Researched October 2026 — energy prices move with seasons and markets; confirm the current rate on your own bill.
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