Solar panels in California

Roofs across California get about 1,917 hours of usable sunlight a year, and electricity costs 31.2¢/kWh. That combination puts a typical system's payback at 8.3 years. Here's the detail, from real rooftop data across 68 California cities.

Check your own roof in California → These are regional figures; your roof's size, pitch and shading move them a lot.

How California compares

California gets more sunlight than 90% of the cities we measure, and its electricity costs more than 97% of states and provinces. Both matter, but not equally: the electricity rate usually matters more, because solar saves money by replacing power you would otherwise buy. A sunny state with cheap power often pays back slower than a cloudy state with expensive power. Why that happens →

Solar by city in California

What a system costs in California

Payback stops improving as systems grow, then gets worse. You can only save on electricity you were going to buy, so once a system covers your usage the extra panels mostly export at a lower rate.

California solar incentives

Every US household can claim the 30% federal residential clean energy credit, which is what the "after credit" figures above assume. On a $19,380 system that is $5,814 back. How the credit works →

State, utility and municipal incentives stack on top and change often — California may offer rebates, property or sales tax exemptions, or performance payments. We deliberately don't list specific state programmes here because they change several times a year and stale numbers are worse than none. The DSIRE database is the standard reference and is kept current.

California solar questions

Worth reading before you buy

Regional estimates generated 2026-08-22 from Google Solar API rooftop samples across 68 California cities, and average California electricity rates. Not a quote and not financial or tax advice.