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How much do solar panels cost in Los Angeles?
Updated September 9, 2026 · priced from Berkeley Lab’s installed-price distribution for systems installed in 2024 · by Cali Energy
How much does solar cost in Los Angeles in 2026? For a home using about 900 kWh a month, a full-offset system is roughly 6.4 kW (16 panels). At California’s median installed price of $4.00 per DC watt that is about $25,600 before incentives, with the middle 60% of the market running $19,200–$33,280. The federal tax credit ended December 31, 2025, so there is no 30% left to subtract.
✓ Priced from Berkeley Lab’s record of what Californians actually paid — enter your usage or a system size. See every figure it uses ↓
The rates and figures this calculator usestap to verify
Cost is system size × an installed price per DC watt. Here is every number it uses — prices are Berkeley Lab’s record of systems installed in 2024, production is NREL PVWatts for Los Angeles, and the panel figure is a labeled planning assumption.
| California median | $4.00 / watt DC |
| 20th to 80th percentile, US | $3.00–$5.20 / watt DC |
| Median paid in cash | $3.50 / watt DC |
| Median financed with a loan | $4.70 / watt DC |
| Basis | gross, before incentives; stand-alone systems bought outright, no battery |
| Los Angeles production per kW-year | ~1,700 kWh, south-facing at 20° (NREL PVWatts) |
| East-facing / west-facing roof | ~1,450 / ~1,490 kWh per kW-year |
| Panel wattage | 400 W — planning assumption |
| System size (usage mode) | annual kWh ÷ 1,700, rounded up to whole panels |
| System size (kW mode) | the size you enter |
| Installed cost | kW × 1000 × $3.00 / $4.00 / $5.20 |
Prices come from Berkeley Lab’s U.S. Distributed Solar and Storage data update (October 2025), covering systems installed in 2024: a California median of $4.00 per DC watt and a US 20th-to-80th percentile range of $3.00–$5.20, gross of incentives, for stand-alone systems bought outright. Judge a cash offer against the cash median of about $3.50/W rather than the blended figure. Production of ~1,700 kWh per kW-year is NREL PVWatts for a south-facing Los Angeles roof at 20° tilt with 14% losses, and the 400 W panel is a Cali Energy planning assumption. The federal Residential Clean Energy Credit ended December 31, 2025, so these are gross prices with no federal credit to deduct — a lease or PPA provider may still price in a separate business credit.
Example results you can reproduce
In Monthly usage mode, each row sizes a full-offset system and prices it at the California median, with the 20th-to-80th percentile range beside it — enter the same usage above to reproduce it.
| Monthly usage | System | At the median ($4.00/W) | Middle 60% of the market |
|---|---|---|---|
| 600 kWh | 4.4 kW · 11 panels | $17,600 | $13,200 – $22,880 |
| 900 kWh | 6.4 kW · 16 panels | $25,600 | $19,200 – $33,280 |
| 1,200 kWh | 8.8 kW · 22 panels | $35,200 | $26,400 – $45,760 |
Switch to System size (kW) mode and an 8 kW system (20 panels) comes to about $32,000 at the median, within a $24,000–$41,600 range.
How this calculator works
It works two ways. In Monthly usage mode it turns your kWh into a full-offset system size — annual use ÷ ~1,700 kWh per kW (south-facing Los Angeles production, NREL PVWatts), rounded up to whole 400 W panels — then prices those kilowatts. In System size mode it skips straight to the price for a size you already have in mind. Both price at Berkeley Lab’s California median of $4.00 per DC watt, with the US 20th and 80th percentiles of $3.00 and $5.20 as low and high markers, and all of it is before incentives. These are Cali Energy estimates, not quotes.
How to read your result
You get the system size (kW and panels), the price at the median, and the range the middle 60% of the market falls in. Where your own quote sits inside that range is the useful signal: below $3.00/W is the cheapest fifth of the national market, above $5.20/W the dearest fifth. Two caveats worth applying. If you are paying cash, judge against the cash median of about $3.50/W — the blended figure includes financed systems, which ran a dollar twenty higher. And these prices are for solar alone: a battery, a main-panel upgrade or roof work should be quoted as separate lines and compared separately.
What moves the result the most
Which company you buy from, more than anything else — median prices across the hundred largest US residential installers in 2024 ran from $2.70 to $6.50 per watt. How you pay comes next: the median cash system cost $3.50/W against $4.70/W financed, a gap Berkeley Lab attributes partly to loan fees rolled into the up-front price. Equipment, roof complexity and a main-panel upgrade move it after that. Location matters for size rather than price: a west-facing Los Angeles roof needs about 14% more array than a south-facing one for the same output, and an east-facing roof about 17% more.
Common questions
What do I need to use this calculator?
Either your average monthly usage in kWh (to size and price a full-offset system) or a system size in kW if you already know it. Toggle between the two at the top.
Why a range instead of one number?
Because installed solar is not one price. Among US residential systems installed in 2024, Berkeley Lab measured the 20th percentile at $3.00 per DC watt, the median at $4.00 and the 80th percentile at $5.20. A range tells you where a quote sits; a single average cannot.
Why is this higher than prices I see elsewhere?
Most published figures are marketplace quotes rather than installed prices, and quotes run below what gets paid. These are prices reported for systems that were actually built, gathered by a national lab from state incentive and interconnection records.
Does the 2026 price include the federal tax credit?
No — there isn’t one to include. The 30% Residential Clean Energy Credit ended for systems whose installation finished after December 31, 2025, so these are gross prices. State programs such as SGIP for storage are separate.
What’s the difference between the two modes?
Monthly-usage mode sizes a system to cover your yearly use, then prices it. System-size mode prices a specific kW you enter. Same prices per watt; different starting point.
What isn’t included in this price?
Roof repairs or reframing, a main-panel or service upgrade, a battery, and financing costs are all separate. It’s the solar system only, before incentives.
Can I check a quote against the disclosure sheet?
Read it, but don’t divide it by watts. California requires a Solar Energy System Disclosure Document stating the total cost including financing costs, so on a financed deal it contains interest and will read far above any per-watt benchmark. Ask for the cash price of the same system and divide that instead. Our cost guide works through it.
How many panels will I need?
In usage mode it’s shown with the size. For a deeper sizing view — shading, offset targets, panel wattage — use our how-many-panels calculator.
Is this a quote?
No — it’s a market-based estimate to sanity-check real bids. For an exact price on your roof, equipment and usage, get an itemized quote in writing.
Sources
- Berkeley Lab (LBNL) — U.S. Distributed Solar and Storage, 2025 Data Update (Oct 2025, 2024 installations)
- NREL / U.S. Department of Energy — Solar Photovoltaic System Cost Benchmarks (Q1 2025 headline; Q1 2024 component breakdown)
- CPUC — California Distributed Generation Statistics, cost per watt
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — Issue Spotlight: Solar Financing (Aug 2024)
- California Business and Professions Code § 7169 — Solar Energy System Disclosure Document
- CSLB — Solar Energy System Disclosure Document (form 13L-6)
- IRS — Residential Clean Energy Credit
- NREL PVWatts — production estimate used in the estimator
- California SGIP — program metrics
Estimates only, not a quote. Assumptions, rates, incentives and program rules can change — confirm current details with your utility, the program administrator or a licensed professional.
Read the full guide →