Solar Panel Cost Calculator
This prices a solar system at current installed rates and runs the savings year by year until they cross the cost, with panel degradation and rising electricity prices both counted. It also carries the 2026 fact a surprising number of solar calculators have not caught up with: the 30 percent federal residential tax credit ended on December 31, 2025, with no phase-down, and any estimate still applying it overstates your case by exactly that much. The numbers here are the after-credit-era numbers.
The 2026 fact that resets every solar estimate
The 30 percent federal residential tax credit (Section 25D) ended on December 31, 2025, terminated by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act with no phase-down: a system placed in service in 2026 receives zero federal credit. The credit stood for so long that it fossilized into the internet's solar arithmetic, and many calculators, articles and sales pitches still include it. Every one of them overstates your savings by exactly 30 percent. This page's numbers are the after-credit numbers, and the result shows, as its own line, what the same system would have looked like a year earlier, because knowing what changed is half of evaluating any quote that still whispers about credits.
Worked example
The 7.6 kW system that covers an average home, at $2.75 a watt in mid-country sun at the 18 cent average rate:
Installed cost $20,900. It produces about 9,986 kWh in year one, worth about $1,798, and with panels fading half a percent a year while rates rise about 2.5, the savings crest the cost in year 11. The same system in 2025, with the credit, cost $14,630 net and paid back in year 8: the credit's death added about three years to payback. Over 25 warranted years the panels still return roughly $57,500 of electricity, about $36,600 ahead of their cost.
Still worth it? The honest shape of the answer
Solar moved from clearly-yes to it-depends, and the dependencies are knowable. The case strengthens with expensive electricity (every rate hike raises what a solar kWh is worth), strong sun, a long expected stay in the house, and any state incentives you can claim. It weakens with cheap power, shade, plans to move, and utilities that credit exported power below retail, the net billing detail worth reading your tariff for. What did not change: panels are typically warrantied for 25 years, so even year-12 paybacks finish well ahead. What changed is the margin for error, which is why the quote, the tariff and this arithmetic should all agree before money moves.
The lease inversion nobody expected
One version of the credit survived: the business-side credit (48E) runs through 2027, and it belongs to whoever owns the panels. A solar company leasing you a roof system can still claim it and price your lease accordingly; you, buying the same system, cannot. For 2026 and 2027 that inverts the old rule that owning always beats leasing, and a well-priced lease or PPA deserves a genuine comparison, with the standard cautions about annual escalator clauses and transferring the agreement when the house sells.
What this model counts, and what it hands to you
Counted: system cost at your price per watt, production from your region's sun (the same NREL-anchored bands and 0.80 planning derate as the sizing page, lockstepped so the two pages can never disagree), 0.5 percent annual panel degradation, and 2.5 percent annual rate escalation, both disclosed. Handed to you: financing (a loan spreads the cost but adds interest), net billing haircuts, and maintenance, which for rooftop solar is genuinely small but not zero, an inverter replacement around year 12 being the common line item. The break-even calculator is the general version of this same crossing-lines arithmetic, and the EV charging cost calculator prices the car a lot of these roofs end up feeding.
Data reviewed: September 2026. Figures here come from published sources and change over time. How we verify
Copy one snippet and give your visitors a working Solar Panel Cost Calculator.
Frequently asked questions
How much do solar panels cost in 2026?
About $2.75 per watt installed is the average quote in 2026 market data, with most systems landing between roughly $2.40 and $3.30 depending on region and equipment. That prices a 7.6 kW system, the size that covers an average home, at about $20,900 before any state or local incentives, and the average installed system nationally now runs around 12 kW.
Is the 30 percent solar tax credit gone?
For homeowners buying a system, yes. The federal residential credit (Section 25D) ended on December 31, 2025 under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, with no phase-down: a system placed in service in 2026 gets zero federal credit. This is the single most important solar fact of 2026, and because the credit stood for years, many calculators, articles and even sales pitches still quietly include it. Any estimate that does is 30 percent too optimistic.
Is solar still worth it without the credit?
The honest answer is that it moved from clearly-yes toward it-depends. On our worked example the credit's end pushed simple payback from about year 8 to about year 11, against equipment that commonly carries 25-year warranties, so the lifetime math still lands well positive at average rates: roughly $36,600 net over 25 years on a $20,900 system. High electricity rates, good sun and a long stay in the house strengthen the case; cheap power, shade or plans to move soon weaken it.
What about solar leases and PPAs?
They kept a version of the credit. The business-side credit (48E) survives through 2027, so a company that owns the panels on your roof can still claim it and reflect it in your lease or PPA rate, which the buyer of the same system cannot. That inverts the old advice that owning always beats leasing; in 2026 and 2027 a well-priced lease deserves a real look, with the usual care about escalator clauses and what happens when you sell the house.
How long do solar panels take to pay for themselves?
At 2026 prices with no federal credit, roughly 10 to 12 years for an average home at average rates, which is what our worked example shows in detail. Sunnier regions and pricier electricity pull it toward 7 or 8; the Pacific Northwest at cheap hydro rates can stretch past 15. Panels are typically warrantied for 25 years, so even the slow cases usually finish well ahead, just less dramatically than the credit-era arithmetic promised.
Do rising electricity rates change the math?
They are half the investment case. Every rate increase raises what each solar kWh is worth, so this calculator escalates rates at a disclosed 2.5 percent a year, near the long-run average. Panels also degrade about 0.5 percent a year, which we count in the other direction. The two roughly offset, leaving the savings stream close to flat in real terms, which is more honest than either compounding alone.
Are there still state and local incentives?
Often, and they vary enormously: property and sales tax exemptions, utility rebates, performance payments, and a few strong state credits. The DSIRE database, run by NC State University, is the standard directory of what applies at your address. Enter anything you qualify for in the incentives field and the payback recomputes with it.
What does net billing do to these savings?
Where utilities credit exported power below the retail rate, the kWh you send out earn less than the kWh you avoid buying, so real savings land somewhat below the full-retail arithmetic this page shows, and self-consuming more of your production (batteries, daytime charging) becomes worth real money. It is the detail most worth checking in your utility's tariff, and a reason the sizing page's 80 to 90 percent offset suggestion exists.