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How many solar panels does your house need? Based on the details of your house and personal electricity usage, this calculator will tell you the system size and approximate price after federal and local rebates of solar panels for your house.

We believe that this is the most accurate solar pricing calculator you’ll find, but keep in mind that the numbers are just an estimate. For a true price, fill out our form to get a quote from a local solar installer.

Just learning about solar? Read Buying Solar For Your Home: The Complete Guide

Your results:

panels

This is how many solar panels you will need if you want to generate 100% of your electricity from solar.

You indicated that your average electricity use is kWh per month. You will need a kW system to generate that much electricity on average. See the graph below to learn how solar power output varies from Summer to Winter.

The exact number of panels depends on the efficiency of the solar panel you choose. The typical power output of residential panels ranges from 300 to 440 watts, with more powerful panels generally costing more. You can also choose to go with fewer panels and generate less than 100% of your electricity needs.

electricity generation/year

This is how much electricity this system will generate in an average year.

Solar electricity generation depends on the weather and will fluctuate from year-to-year. This estimate is based on average climate data for your location.

annual value of electricity

This is the value of the electricity that your solar panels will generate in an average year.

This number is based on the cost of electricity that you provided above. Keep in mind that most solar panels are warrantied for 25 years, and electricity prices tend to rise over time, which means that your actual value of solar electricity will probably go up over time.

until financial payback

This is how long it will take for your system to pay for itself.

From a financial point of view, this is how many years it will take for your solar system to offset enough of your electricity bills to pay for itself. This takes into account the federal and local financial incentives that are available to you. See below for a detailed breakdown.

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What do people in pay for solar?

The price of a solar system is expressed as price-per-Watt. This is the invoice cost of a system, including panels, installation, racking, inverters, and other equipment, divided by the power output of the system in Watts. For example, if a system with 6,000 Watts of solar panels has an invoice price of $18,000, the price-per-Watt would be $3.00. This does not include any incentives, but our dataset does include sales taxes. Many states have sales tax exemptions for solar; this is acccounted for in the data.

Median prices vary significantly between states, from a low of $2.80/Watt in Wisconsin to a high of $4.40 in Rhode Island. The median is the middle price in our data, but different installers and equipment choices will affect the price considerably.

Use the menu below to view the median, low (20th percentile), or high (80th percentile) prices for your state.

Median price per Watt
Gross system price includes applicable sales taxes

Federal tax credit of 30%
deduction
Net system price:

	Low price per Watt	Median price per Watt	High price per Watt
Gross system price (includes applicable sales taxes)
Federal tax credit of 30% deduction
Net system price:

Important note about tax credits: Federal or state solar tax credits don’t reduce the invoice price of your system. Instead, you wait until you file your taxes, then use the credit to reduce the amount of tax you owe. It’s possible that your solar credit will be larger than the tax you owe. Don’t worry: the federal credit can be rolled over to following years until it’s used up. State tax credits can usually be rolled over too, although some states have a limit on the number of years that excess credit can be carried forward.

These price estimates are based on research from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which compiles cost data from state agencies, utility companies, and organizations that administer solar rebate programs.

How much should you expect to pay? That depends on your installer, the equipment you select, and features of your home that might make an installation more or less difficult. The price you are quoted from installers will probably fall between these ranges, but they might not. Always get multiple quotes.

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How long will it take to pay back the cost of your system?

The table below shows the estimated value of the electricity you will generate each year on average, and any recurring solar credits that are available to you. Based on these values, the number of years until your financial investment is paid back is estimated below.

Value of the solar electricity you will generate Based on your electricity price of cents per kWh. The actual annual value will vary with weather conditions.	per year
Number of years it will take to recoup a system price of

Graph of financial payback over time

Solar panels will save you money by reducing your utility bills. We estimate that your system will break even after , after which it will have paid back your initial investment. This system is estimated to earn you a net return of after 25 years. Solar panels and inverters frequently come with 25 year warranties, but systems can last even longer than that, earning you money for multiple decades.

Net earnings by year ($)

Your system performance estimate

Estimated power generation by month (kwh)

Your solar electricity generation will vary throughout the year. Summer days are longer than winter days, which affects the amount of solar radiation your panels will receive. Cloud cover and preciptation varies seasonally too. All of these factors are accounted for by our model.

This graph is based on recent meterological data for your area. It is the estimated average solar production you can expect. Your actual power generation will vary from year-to-year.

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Environmental impact

ANNUAL EQUIVALENT:

trees

lbs CO₂

When your home is running on solar panels, you reduce or eliminate the net electricity you use from the grid. The average amount of pollution associated with one megawatt-hour of grid electricity in California is:

• pounds of CO₂
• pounds of sulphur dioxide
• pounds of nitrous oxides
• pounds of methane

This means that if your solar panels generate of electricity in a year, you prevent lbs of CO₂ from being released into the atmosphere, which is equivalent to about mature trees.

What if your solar panels last their full 25 year lifespan? That’s trees in total, lbs of CO₂, lbs of SO₂, lbs of methane, and lbs of NOx. That’s a lot of pollution avoided!

According to the EPA, a deciduous tree grown in an urban setting for 10 years will sequester 38 pounds of carbon.

To learn more about the exact electricity mix in your area, check out the EPA Power Profiler.

Common questions

What is net metering?

With a grid-connected solar system (the type almost every solar homeowner has), you will sometimes use power from the grid, and sometimes send excess solar electricity into the grid. Net metering is a policy where you are billed according to your net electricity usage.

This is great because you don’t have to worry about when you use or generate electricity. However, not every state or utility company offers net metering, but instead offer schemes that pay you less for electricity you send into the grid. Read this guide to net metering to learn the basics about net metering and what it means to you.

Do solar panels eliminate your electric bill?

No. Even if solar panels generate 100% of your electricity that month, you’ll still get a bill from your electric company. There are fixed monthly charges that you pay, and they don’t go away even if you reduce your electricity use to zero. The only way to eliminate your electric bill is to go completely off-grid, which is not recommended unless you know what you’re getting into.

Every electricity bill looks different, so study yours to see what your fixed charges are. This article walks you through the process.

Last note: if you go with a solar lease or power purchase agreement, not only will you not eliminate your electric bill, but you’ll actually get two bills.

What is the best type of solar panel?

There’s really no such a thing as a “best” solar panel. Different panels offer tradeoffs between performance, warranties, price, and other factors. Some panels might even have stronger glass and frames, which can be important if you live somewhere with hurricanes or heavy snow in the winter.

Your installer will make recommendations, but it’s always a good idea to familiarize yourself with solar panel specifications so that you can make a knowledgeable decision. This article walks you through some important considerations such as price-per-watt and warranties. You can also learn how to read a solar panel specification sheet, which is a less scary thing than it might seem.

What do I need to know about getting solar panels installed on my home?

Installing solar panels on your house is more complicated than renting a car for the weekend, but less complicated than getting your kitchen renovated. This means that you should expect to get multiple quotes and have some face-to-face discussions with contractors.

While you’ll have a couple decisions to make around equipment choices, it’s not like making dozens of choices about faucets and drawer pulls and which color tile for the backsplash and flooring and appliances and all that. You’re looking at a couple meetings, phone calls, and arranging times for the installation date and possibly an inspection or two. It’s really not that bad.

The Solar Nerd guide to buying solar for your home steps you through the entire process, from getting your home ready for solar, calculating whether solar is a good choice for you, interviewing contractors, and more.

If you’ve made it this far, you must be thinking about going solar.

If it seems like solar could be right for you, the next thing to do is to get quotes from professional solar installers.

While this calculator is a great tool for getting a quick estimate of the cost of a system, it’s no substitute for working with a professional solar installer who will perform an accurate technical analysis of your home and give you a customized proposal that will predict how much electricity you can generate and how much money you can expect to save every year.

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