Solar Roles Research · Pay & housing
Where solar installer pay goes furthest on rent
A one-bedroom rent takes 41 hours of installer pay in Albuquerque and 99 in Santa Cruz–Watsonville. Across 20 of the 28 metros compared, it exceeds 30% of a single installer's median gross pay.
By Solar Roles Research ·
May 2025 wages · FY 2026 rents
41.2 hrs
Albuquerque: lowest rent hours
98.6 hrs
Santa Cruz: highest rent hours
20 of 28
Metros above 30% of gross pay
Albuquerque leads the 28 metros compared
$1,185 a month covers HUD's one-bedroom rent benchmark in Albuquerque. At the local median installer wage of $28.75 an hour, that amounts to 41.2 hours of gross earnings. Bakersfield follows at 41.6 hours; Grand Junction comes next at 43.1.
Santa Cruz–Watsonville sits at the other end. Its $69,550 median annual wage is higher than Albuquerque's $59,800, but the one-bedroom rent benchmark reaches $3,298. Rent takes 98.6 hours of gross pay there, or about 2.5 40-hour workweeks.
- Albuquerque, NM41.2 hrs
- Bakersfield-Delano, CA41.6 hrs
- Grand Junction, CO43.1 hrs
- Provo-Orem-Lehi, UT43.9 hrs
- Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA78.5 hrs
- San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA83.4 hrs
- Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA95.2 hrs
- Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA98.6 hrs
Source: Solar Roles calculations using BLS OEWS and HUD Fair Market Rents. Full results below.
Las Vegas combines higher pay with a smaller rent bill than San Diego
$67,810 is the median annual installer wage in Las Vegas, compared with $61,340 in San Diego. The one-bedroom rent benchmark is lower too: $1,478 versus $2,459.
That leaves a 38.0-hour gap in the gross earnings needed for one month's rent. For someone comparing job offers, both the hourly rate and the local housing bill belong in the calculation. Openings, travel requirements and hours offered still need to be checked separately.
Compare installer pay and rent in 28 metros
20 metros exceed the 30% benchmark; 8 fall below it. Sort by salary to see how the order changes. Each metro name links to its HUD rent source.
28 of 28 metros shown. Scroll horizontally to see every column.
| Metro area | Annual pay | Hourly pay | Monthly rent | Hours for rent | Rent / gross pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albuquerque, NM | $59,800 | $28.75 | $1,185 | 41.2 | 23.8% |
| Bakersfield-Delano, CA | $56,990 | $27.40 | $1,140 | 41.6 | 24.0% |
| Grand Junction, CO | $47,620 | $22.90 | $986 | 43.1 | 24.8% |
| Provo-Orem-Lehi, UT | $59,950 | $28.82 | $1,265 | 43.9 | 25.3% |
| Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV | $67,810 | $32.60 | $1,478 | 45.3 | 26.2% |
| Modesto, CA | $59,920 | $28.81 | $1,356 | 47.1 | 27.2% |
| Stockton-Lodi, CA | $59,110 | $28.42 | $1,395 | 49.1 | 28.3% |
| Lancaster, PA | $49,950 | $24.01 | $1,220 | 50.8 | 29.3% |
| Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA | $66,320 | $31.88 | $1,677 | 52.6 | 30.3% |
| Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD | $58,350 | $28.05 | $1,520 | 54.2 | 31.3% |
| Ogden, UT | $48,290 | $23.22 | $1,281 | 55.2 | 31.8% |
| Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY | $49,470 | $23.79 | $1,417 | 59.6 | 34.4% |
| Urban Honolulu, HI | $69,940 | $33.63 | $2,016 | 59.9 | 34.6% |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA | $60,050 | $28.87 | $1,777 | 61.6 | 35.5% |
| Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX | $50,580 | $24.32 | $1,562 | 64.2 | 37.1% |
| Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ | $51,200 | $24.61 | $1,583 | 64.3 | 37.1% |
| Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO | $53,140 | $25.55 | $1,754 | 68.6 | 39.6% |
| Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL | $51,170 | $24.60 | $1,696 | 68.9 | 39.8% |
| San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA | $61,020 | $29.34 | $2,036 | 69.4 | 40.0% |
| Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD | $45,220 | $21.74 | $1,511 | 69.5 | 40.1% |
| Flagstaff, AZ | $50,890 | $24.47 | $1,727 | 70.6 | 40.7% |
| Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA | $61,810 | $29.72 | $2,155 | 72.5 | 41.8% |
| Salinas, CA | $62,260 | $29.93 | $2,232 | 74.6 | 43.0% |
| Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL | $46,660 | $22.43 | $1,731 | 77.2 | 44.5% |
| Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA | $59,650 | $28.68 | $2,250 | 78.5 | 45.3% |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA | $61,340 | $29.49 | $2,459 | 83.4 | 48.1% |
| Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA | $59,960 | $28.83 | $2,746 | 95.2 | 55.0% |
| Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA | $69,550 | $33.44 | $3,298 | 98.6 | 56.9% |
These are metropolitan areas, which can span several cities and counties. The comparison covers one worker paying the entire one-bedroom rent. It does not measure the share of actual installers who struggle to pay rent.
How we matched pay and rent
48 US metropolitan areas have solar installer rows in the May 2025 BLS file, excluding Puerto Rico. We retained 28 whose full county coverage matches a single HUD rent area. The other 20 were excluded because assigning one of their local HUD rents to the entire metro would misstate the geography.
- Pay: one occupation, two published medians
- We use BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics for Solar Photovoltaic Installers (47-2231): the hourly median for work hours and the annual median for the rent share. These are employer-survey estimates, not Solar Roles advertised salaries. They do not cover every solar occupation or self-employed workers. A median is not an entry-level offer. Small local samples can produce uncertain estimates; rank differences are descriptive, not tests of statistical significance.
- Housing: a one-bedroom gross rent benchmark
- HUD Fair Market Rent estimates the 40th percentile gross rent for standard-quality units. It includes rent and most tenant-paid utilities; it is not a median asking rent or a quote for an available apartment. We use FY 2026, including the May 21 revision to San Luis Obispo ($2,036 for one bedroom). FY 2027 rents are outside this edition.
- Hours and rent share
- Hours for rent = monthly one-bedroom FMR ÷ median gross hourly wage. Rent share = monthly FMR × 12 ÷ median gross annual wage × 100. Values are ranked before rounding. The 30% comparison is a stated affordability benchmark for this single-earner scenario, not a measurement of household rent burden. Published hourly and annual wage estimates are rounded independently.
- Coverage and timing
- May 2025 wages and FY 2026 rents refer to different periods. We have not projected wages forward or estimated take-home pay. Taxes, food, transport, childcare, benefits, overtime and unpaid weeks are outside the calculation. The 28 metros are the matched sample, not a nationally representative estimate. Los Angeles, New York, Seattle and other metros with split rent geographies are listed in the exclusions download.
Sources and data downloads
Two federal datasets provide the pay and rent inputs. The BLS county definitions establish the geographic match; HUD's revision notice updates the affected rent.
- BLS: May 2025 metropolitan wage estimates (ZIP)
- BLS: May 2025 area definitions (XLSX)
- HUD: FY 2026 rent schedule and county coverage (PDF)
- HUD: revised FY 2026 rents, effective May 21, 2026
- Solar Roles: all 28 metro calculations (CSV)
For coverage, cite Solar Roles' 2026 Solar Installer Pay and Rent Report and link to this page. The CSV includes source links and calculations to four decimal places for checking the findings. Contact Solar Roles for questions about the analysis.