What the real ranking shows
EnergySage, an online marketplace where homeowners request solar installation quotes, counts how many of those quote requests come from each place, adjusted for population, every quarter. Its count for the first quarter of 2025 ranks Massachusetts first in the country, ahead of Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, and Washington, District of Columbia, which is not a state. California and Texas, the 2 states that produce by far the most solar electricity in the country, do not appear on that list at all.
The price these 5 places share
EnergySage names state programs as the reason these 5 places lead, not sunlight. It also points to something all 5 places share, a high price for electricity. The United States Energy Information Administration, the federal agency that tracks energy prices, recorded average residential electricity prices for June 2026. Massachusetts pays 29.61 cents per kilowatt hour, Maine pays 29.59 cents, Rhode Island pays 29.23 cents, Washington, District of Columbia pays 24.39 cents, and Connecticut pays 24.32 cents. The nationwide average that same month was 18.34 cents. Every one of those 5 places pays more than that average.
This is the average residential electricity price for June 2026, reported by the United States Energy Information Administration. The 5 places that rank first for solar quote requests per person, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island and Washington, District of Columbia, all pay more than the nationwide average. Texas pays less than it.
Show the numbers
| California | 34.74 |
| Massachusetts | 29.61 |
| Maine | 29.59 |
| Rhode Island | 29.23 |
| Washington, District of Columbia | 24.39 |
| Connecticut | 24.32 |
| United States average | 18.34 |
| Texas | 15.94 |
What each place actually offers
Massachusetts runs the Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target program, known as SMART, alongside tax exemptions, and a typical Massachusetts home now installs an 11 kilowatt system. Connecticut funds solar through state funded financing at the Connecticut Green Bank, and EnergySage counts an average Connecticut cash purchased system at 2.66 dollars a watt before incentives, with the average Connecticut shopper saving 4,257 dollars once incentives are applied. Maine offers a net billing policy and a property tax exemption for solar equipment. Rhode Island gives cash grants through its Renewable Energy Fund. Washington, District of Columbia runs the Solar Advantage Plus Program, offering up to 10,000 dollars in rebates to qualifying low income residents who install a system of 3 to 4 kilowatts.
Where the volume actually is
California and Texas still matter most for raw output. Of all the utility scale solar electricity generated nationwide in 2023, California produced 25% and Texas produced 17%, according to the United States Energy Information Administration, the same federal agency that tracks prices. California also generated close to 40% of all small scale photovoltaic output nationwide, the category that includes most home rooftop systems, and 39% of the small scale output that came from homes alone. From September 2024 through August 2025, California drew 36.3% of its own electricity from solar, the largest share of any state.
The California and Texas figures are counted by the United States Energy Information Administration for 2023. Every other state combined is the remainder after subtracting those 2 figures from 100, a calculation by MAOWCE.
Show the numbers
| California | 25 |
| Texas | 17 |
| Every other state | 58 |
Why price beats sunlight
A peer reviewed study of rooftop solar adoption across 10,417 United States zip codes found average adoption low, just 0.93% of eligible buildings. The researchers found retail electricity price correlates with adoption alongside insolation, the amount of sunlight a location receives, not behind it. Net metering, a billing arrangement that credits solar owners for power they send back to the grid, also correlates with higher adoption. The same study found that anticipated savings on electricity motivate buyers most in majority Republican areas, and that 15 states could meet their own residential electricity demand if solar panels covered every suitable building.