Nearly one in three Hawaii homes has solar panels, the most of any state

Nearly one in three homes in Hawaii has solar panels, the highest share in the country, according to new federal survey data. The U.S. Census Bureau added a solar question to its 2025 American Community Survey, and the results, released October 29, put Hawaii at 30.4 percent of housing units and California at 17.1 percent.

Nationwide, about 7.7 million of the country's 148 million housing units, 5.2 percent, had solar panels. California alone accounts for about 2.6 million of them, a third of the national total. Arizona and Nevada are next at 11.8 percent each. At the other end, fewer than 1 percent of homes in Tennessee, Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota have them. North Dakota is lowest, at 0.5 percent.

Solar is mostly a homeowner and single-family feature. Among occupied homes, 7.0 percent of owner households had panels, compared with 2.8 percent of renter households. By building type, 6.5 percent of single-family homes had solar, compared with 2.5 percent of homes in buildings with two or more units. Newer homes are more likely to have it: 8.0 percent of homes built in 2020 or later had panels, compared with 3.7 percent of homes built before 1940.

The highest shares are in California's Central Valley and inland south. Among metro areas with at least 200,000 housing units, Bakersfield leads at 32.8 percent, followed by Honolulu at 30.5 percent, Fresno at 28.6 percent, and Stockton at 27.2 percent. Among counties, Kings County, California, is highest at 37.1 percent.

Among cities with at least 40,000 housing units, Menifee, in Riverside County, leads at 45.3 percent, followed by Bakersfield at 39.1 percent, Clovis at 37.1 percent, and Visalia at 34.7 percent. Goodyear, outside Phoenix, at 32.6 percent, is the highest outside California. The largest cities are far lower. San Diego is at 21.5 percent, but New York City is at 4.8 percent, Chicago at 2.5 percent, and Houston at 2.1 percent.

The question was new in 2025, along with one on electric vehicles, so there is no earlier survey to compare with. The two lists overlap at the top: Hawaii, California, Arizona, and Nevada rank high on both.

Sources

Figures are from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2025 American Community Survey 1-year estimates, tables B25144 (presence of solar panels by units in structure), B25145 (by tenure), and B25146 (by year structure built). Shares in the state, metro, county, and city lists are of all housing units, including vacant ones; owner and renter shares are of occupied homes. The 1-year survey covers areas with at least 65,000 people. Survey estimates have margins of error, and places a few tenths of a point apart may not be statistically different.