What solar costs in New York
The middle half of New York households who put solar on the roof paid between $3.26 and $5.48 a watt, on 19,752 reported installations. There is no longer a federal credit to take off that.
The numbers
High electricity prices make solar pay faster, so a red figure in the third box is good news for a solar buyer and bad news every other month of the year.
Holding a quote above $31,840? Installers in New York price the same system very differently. Two more bids is the cheapest way to find out where yours sits.
Plain outbound links. We take no phone numbers and sell no leads: you give your details to the company that will actually call you, not to us.
What the roof makes month by month in New York
A 2.3 to 1 swing across the year, which is fairly typical. Expect to export in summer and import in winter, and check how your utility settles the difference.
Figures are for an 8 kW array at 20 degrees facing south, modelled from NSRDB radiation data at New York.
What different sizes cost in New York
| Size | Panels | Price | Output | Year one saving | Payback |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 kW | 10 | $15,920 | 5,020 kWh | $1,501 | 9.7 years |
| 5 kW | 13 | $19,900 | 6,275 kWh | $1,876 | 9.7 years |
| 6 kW | 15 | $23,880 | 7,530 kWh | $2,251 | 9.7 years |
| 7 kW | 18 | $27,860 | 8,785 kWh | $2,627 | 9.7 years |
| 8 kWtypical | 20 | $31,840 | 10,040 kWh | $3,002 | 9.7 years |
| 10 kW | 25 | $39,800 | 12,550 kWh | $3,752 | 9.7 years |
| 12 kW | 30 | $47,760 | 15,060 kWh | $4,503 | 9.7 years |
| 15 kW | 38 | $59,700 | 18,825 kWh | $5,629 | 9.7 years |
| 20 kW | 50 | $79,600 | 25,100 kWh | $7,505 | 9.7 years |
Payback is the same at every size because this table holds the price per watt flat at the New York median of $3.98: price and output both grow in step with the system, so their ratio does not change. Real quotes are not quite linear. Permitting, design and connection cost roughly the same on any roof, so a small system usually costs more per watt and a large one less, and pays back correspondingly later or sooner than shown.
The price is what New York households actually paid on host-owned systems installed in 2024-2025, as reported to state programmes and compiled by Berkeley Lab, gross of any incentive. Quote marketplaces publish the prices installers offer on their own platforms, which is a different measure from prices paid on contracts that closed, so the two need not match.
11 programmes in New York
The 30% federal credit ended for installations completed after 31 December 2025. These state, utility and local programmes are unaffected by that, and are now the only thing that reduces the price.
| Programme | Type | Run by | Reach | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local Option - Solar, Wind & Biomass Energy Systems Exemption | Property Tax Incentive | State | statewide | April 14, 2026 |
| Net Metering | Net Metering | State | statewide | April 14, 2026 |
| NY-Sun PV Incentive Program (Commercial and Industrial) | Rebate Program | State | statewide | July 2, 2025 |
| Residential Solar Tax Credit | Personal Tax Credit | State | statewide | April 14, 2026 |
| Solar Sales Tax Exemption | Sales Tax Incentive | State | statewide | April 14, 2026 |
| Interconnection Standards | Interconnection | State | partial | June 7, 2024 |
| New York City - Property Tax Abatement for Photovoltaic (PV) and Energy Storage Equipment | Property Tax Incentive | Local | partial | April 14, 2026 |
| New York City - Residential Solar Sales Tax Exemption | Sales Tax Incentive | Local | partial | April 14, 2026 |
| New York Solar Easements & Solar Rights Laws | Solar/Wind Access Policy | State | partial | December 19, 2023 |
| NY-Sun PV Incentive Program (Residential, Low-Income, and Small Business) | Rebate Program | State | partial | July 2, 2025 |
| PSEG Long Island - Net Metering | Net Metering | Utility | partial | February 28, 2025 |
Programme index from DSIRE, N.C. Clean Energy Technology Center, NC State University, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. “Partial” means it reaches only some utilities or counties. A listed programme can still be closed or out of budget, so check its own page before counting on it.
How New York ranks
Closest on payback: Maine (8.7 yrs), Massachusetts (9.0 yrs), Rhode Island (9.7 yrs), California (10.5 yrs).
Solar in New York, answered
How much do solar panels cost in New York?
An 8 kW system in New York, roughly 20 panels, costs about $31,840 before incentives. That is based on $3.98 per watt, the median New York households actually paid across 19,752 installations reported to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for 2024-2025. The middle half of buyers paid between $3.26 and $5.48 per watt. There is no longer a federal tax credit to subtract from that figure.
Is there still a 30% solar tax credit in New York?
No. The federal Residential Clean Energy Credit under Internal Revenue Code section 25D was terminated by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act for expenditures made after 31 December 2025, and it did not step down first. A New York homeowner buying a system with cash or a loan today receives no federal tax credit. Under a lease or power purchase agreement the credit survives as section 48E but belongs to the company that owns the equipment, not to the household. New York still has 11 state, utility or local programmes covering rooftop solar.
How long do solar panels take to pay for themselves in New York?
About 9.7 years in New York. An 8 kW system costs roughly $31,840 and saves about $3,002 in its first year at the state's average residential rate of 29.90 cents per kilowatt-hour (EIA, July 2026). That calculation includes no federal tax credit, because the residential credit ended after 31 December 2025.
How much electricity does a solar panel produce in New York?
Each kilowatt of panels in New York produces about 1,255 kilowatt-hours a year, modelled at New York facing south at a 20 degree tilt using NSRDB radiation data. An 8 kW system therefore makes roughly 10,040 kilowatt-hours a year. The national average is about 1,332 kilowatt-hours per kilowatt installed.
Is solar worth it in New York?
It depends less on sunshine than on your electricity price. In New York power costs 29.90 cents per kilowatt-hour (EIA, July 2026), which makes an 8 kW system pay for itself in about 9.7 years and clear roughly $64,160 over 25 years. Solar from your own roof works out at 13.5 cents per kilowatt-hour over its life, against 29.90 cents from the utility.
How many solar panels do I need in New York?
A typical New York installation is about 20 panels, which is 8 kW at the 400 watt module that is now standard and needs roughly 440 square feet of roof. To size it to your own use, divide your annual kilowatt-hours by 1,255, which is what each kilowatt of panels produces in New York each year.
Do solar panels work in winter in New York?
Yes, but output falls sharply. In New York a kilowatt of panels makes about 137 kilowatt-hours in Jul and about 59 in Dec, a swing of 2.3 to 1 across the year. A system sized to cover your annual consumption will therefore run a surplus in summer and leave you buying power in winter, so how your utility settles that difference matters as much as the size of the array.
Three competing quotes beat any amount of comparing panel brands
Sales cost and margin are over a third of an installed price in New York, and they are the part that competition removes. A single quote from whoever reached you first is how people end up in the top quarter of what their neighbours paid.
Plain outbound links. We take no phone numbers and sell no leads: you give your details to the company that will actually call you, not to us.
Prices and rules change. We will tell you when they do
Berkeley Lab publishes installed prices once a year, the EIA updates electricity rates every month, and Congress changed the tax treatment of all of this in 2025. One email when something on this site actually changes, and nothing else.
Email address only. No phone field, no passing you to installers, unsubscribe in one click.