What residential solar costs per watt in 2026

Solar quotes are usually written as a total, but the number that lets you compare them is the price per watt: total price divided by system size in watts. This post pulls together the most recent public price data we could verify, explains why Florida and California quotes differ, and covers what the end of the federal credit does to your net cost. Every figure below is dated and linked to its source at the bottom of the page.

Key takeaways

• Berkeley Lab’s national data put the median price of a host-owned residential system installed in 2025 at about $3.6 per watt, down from about $4.1 in 2024 (both in 2025 dollars, before incentives).
• Cash purchases were cheaper than loans: about $3.0 per watt versus about $4.5, potentially due in part to loan origination fees rolled into the up-front price, according to Berkeley Lab.
• In 2025 installs, Florida’s median was about $3.1 per watt and California’s about $3.3. That gap is small relative to how widely individual quotes vary.
• Among the 100 largest U.S. installers, median prices ranged from roughly $2.4 to $6.3 per watt. Comparing several quotes matters more than the state average.
• The federal residential credit no longer applies to installs completed after 2025, so the price you pay is now much closer to your net cost.

What the numbers say: 2025 installs

The most recent verified price data covers systems installed in 2025. Berkeley Lab’s August 2026 data update, part of its Tracking the Sun series, reports the up-front price paid by the system owner, before any incentives. It covers host-owned systems only, meaning systems the homeowner bought with cash or a loan. Leased and power-purchase systems are excluded.

2025 installs, host-owned residential solar	Median price per watt (2025 dollars)
All host-owned	about $3.6 (2024: about $4.1)
Known cash purchase	about $3.0 (2024: about $3.6)
Known loan-financed	about $4.5 (2024: about $4.8)

Two caveats from the report itself. First, the cash and loan rows cover only the roughly 45% of systems where financing type could be determined with confidence. Second, loan prices do not include ongoing interest payments, so the true cost of borrowing is higher than the table shows.

For scale, the same report puts the median U.S. residential system at 7.7 kW in 2025, with most systems between roughly 5 and 12 kW. As an illustration only, using those two inputs: 7,700 watts at $3.0 per watt is about $23,100, and at $4.5 per watt it is about $34,650. Your roof, usage and quotes will differ, which is why we show ranges rather than a single price. The methodology page explains how our calculators build their ranges.

What we could not verify for 2026

Berkeley Lab’s latest figures stop at 2025 installs. We could not read a primary-source median for 2026 installs, so we do not state one. Wood Mackenzie’s commentary on its latest quarterly U.S. Solar Market Insight does report that residential installations in the second quarter of 2026 were 995 MWdc, the segment’s lowest quarterly total in five years, and that it forecasts a 23% year-over-year contraction for the residential segment in 2026. Fewer installs does not by itself tell you what a quote will cost.

How prices have moved

Over two decades, Berkeley Lab finds installed prices fell by $9 to $11 per watt across each customer segment, a 70% to 80% reduction in inflation-adjusted terms. Most of that came before 2014 as module costs dropped. Since then declines have averaged a more modest $0.1 to $0.2 per watt per year, driven mainly by soft costs and other non-equipment costs.

That second point matters for 2026. The report estimates that soft costs and other balance-of-system costs make up roughly 80% of the total installed price of a residential system, based on 2025 medians. Soft costs include customer acquisition, installation labor, permitting and interconnection, financing fees, taxes and profit. In other words, panel prices are a minority of what you pay, so cheaper hardware does not translate one-for-one into cheaper quotes.

A second benchmark: NLR’s modeled cost

The National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR, formerly NREL) takes a different approach: a bottom-up model of what an installed system should cost, rather than reported sale prices. Its 2025Q1 residential benchmark, published through the U.S. Department of Energy, is for an 8 kW system and excludes subsidies, in 2024 dollars:

• Solar only: about $2.95 per watt (modeled market price) and about $2.78 per watt (minimum sustainable price).
• Solar plus a 13.5 kWh battery: about $4.59 per watt (modeled market price) and about $4.33 per watt (minimum sustainable price).

NLR’s own page lists Q1 2025 as its latest benchmark. These are modeled costs for one system size, not what homeowners paid, so they are not directly comparable to the reported medians above. The modeled solar-only market price is close to the cash median ($3.0) and below the all-host-owned and loan medians. Treat the two sources as different lenses on cost, not competing answers.

Florida versus California

Berkeley Lab’s state chart shows 2025 median prices for host-owned, stand-alone residential systems of about $3.1 per watt in Florida and about $3.3 in California, (the chart shows states with at least 20 observations). On that chart’s own scale, Florida sits at about the dotted U.S. reference line, roughly $3.0 to $3.1 per watt, and California slightly above it. That line is a different measure from the $3.6 all-host-owned national median in the table above, so do not compare the two directly.

Do not read too much into a $0.2 gap. The report notes that cross-state differences can reflect financing choices, market size, population density and permitting processes, and sometimes one large installer with unusual prices. The percentile bands in the chart are far wider than the gap between the two states.

What differs more is what homeowners buy. In 2025, 74% of new California residential solar systems in Berkeley Lab’s data were paired with a battery, versus 37% nationally. For how California’s net billing tariff changes the battery case, see our guide on NEM 3.0 and batteries. Pairing storage changes the price a lot:

• Among cash-purchase systems, the median was about $2.1 per watt higher with storage than for solar alone (about $5.1 versus about $3.0).
• About 80% of the paired-system price data comes from California, so treat that comparison as a California picture.
• Berkeley Lab states paired prices per watt of solar capacity, not per watt of battery.

For state-specific estimates, use the Florida calculator or the California calculator, and see your utility’s page, for example FPL, PG&E or SDG&E.

What pushes a quote up or down

Berkeley Lab found that installers’ median prices among the 100 largest residential installers in 2025 ranged from about $2.4 to $6.3 per watt, ignoring apparent outliers. Roughly 60% had medians below $4, almost 25% below $3, and about 10% above $5. Even within one installer, middle-80% price bands typically spanned $1 to $2 per watt.

Factors the data points to:

• Payment method. Loan-financed systems were priced about $1.5 per watt above cash purchases (about $4.5 versus about $3.0), potentially due in part to loan origination fees rolled into the up-front price.
• Battery. Adding storage raised the median substantially, as above.
• Installer. Business model, vendor relationships and local market all show up in the spread.
• Project details. Roof, equipment and customer-specific features move prices within any installer’s range.
• System size. For 2025 residential installs, Berkeley Lab says economies of scale were not especially evident, though earlier econometric work has found clear effects. Do not assume a bigger system is automatically cheaper per watt.

Why the end of the federal credit raises net cost

The federal residential clean energy credit (section 25D) is not allowed for expenditures made after December 31, 2025. The IRS FAQ explains that for installed equipment, an expenditure is treated as made when installation is completed, so paying in 2025 for an install finished in 2026 does not qualify.

The consequence is arithmetic. Through 2025, the credit reduced what a homeowner effectively paid for the same system. For installs completed in 2026 and later, there is no federal credit to subtract, so net cost equals the price you pay, less any state, local or utility incentives you separately verify. Our calculators treat the federal credit as $0 for 2026 installs. If a salesperson says otherwise, ask them to show you the IRS guidance.

This does not mean solar stops making sense, only that payback is longer than it would have been with the credit. Our guide on whether solar is worth it without the tax credit walks through how to think about that, and our Florida-specific guide covers the Florida angle.

Next steps

1. Run the Florida or California calculator to get a low, likely and high range for your address and bill.
2. Collect several written quotes and convert each to price per watt, with and without any battery. Our guide on comparing solar quotes shows how.
3. Compare cash and loan prices separately, and ask for the total cost of borrowing. If you are weighing a lease or power-purchase agreement, read lease versus buy, since leased systems are not in these price figures.
4. If you want to request quotes, see /quotes. Prices on this page are context, not an offer or a guarantee of savings.