One of the most common critiques of policies that encourage the adoption of rooftop solar is that the benefits go mostly to affluent households.
But as solar grows in popularity across the country, it also is expanding its reach across income levels.
The median income for a household that installed rooftop solar in 2023 was $115,000, down from $141,000 for households that installed solar in 2010, according to the 2024 edition of an annual report from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
The progress is clear, but gradual. The $115,000 figure from 2023 is just $1,000 less than in 2022.
The long-term trend is that the median income for a household with rooftop solar is getting closer almost every year to that of the median income for owner-occupied households.
“Solar has gotten cheaper, and so that has made it more accessible to a broader swath of the population,” said Galen Barbose, a research…
