The Solar Installation Rankings: Which States Led the 2020–2025 Solar Boom?

The 2020–2025 solar boom was a transformative era for the U.S. energy landscape, marked by a significant shift in dominance from the West Coast to the "Solar Belt" of the South and the emerging utility-scale markets in the Midwest.

---

Top 10 States by Solar Installations 2020-2025

The U.S. solar industry installed 43.2 gigawatts direct current (GWdc) of capacity in 2025, which makes 54% of all new electricity-generating capacity added to the U.S. grid. This was the fifth consecutive year that solar was the #1 source of new generating capacity in the U.S.

Who is winning the solar race?

For most of the past two decades, this wasn’t a question. California was the undisputed leader in solar installations, buoyed by aggressive renewable portfolio standards, net metering policies, and a massive residential market.

That started to change around 2021. Texas, with its vast tracts of flat land and a deregulated electricity market* that made utility-scale projects financially attractive, overtook California for the first time. By 2025, Texas had held the #1 spot in four of the past five years.

The shift doesn’t mean California stopped growing. It didn’t. But California’s market increasingly tilted toward battery storage and residential systems—especially after the state’s transition to NEM 3.0, which changed the economics of rooftop solar. In terms of raw annual installation capacity, Texas pulled ahead and stayed there.

California still ranked #2 every year it didn’t hold #1, and it remained the largest cumulative solar market in the country. But on a year-by-year installation basis, Texas now sets the pace.

Which states were the surprise climbers?

The top of the leaderboard gets most of the attention, but the more revealing story is further down the rankings. Several states that barely registered in 2020 became significant solar markets by 2025.

Kentucky (+35 positions)

Kentucky was ranked #46 in 2020. Five years later, it sat at #11. That’s the largest single jump of any state in this period, and it caught much of the industry off guard. The growth was almost entirely utility-scale, driven by large solar farms that feed power into regional transmission networks. Kentucky’s relatively low land costs and available acreage made it attractive for developers looking to build at scale.

Oklahoma (+20 positions)

Oklahoma went from #40 to #20 over the five-year period. Like Texas, it benefited from wide-open land and a regulatory environment that didn’t put major barriers in front of utility-scale development. The state also saw growing interest from developers looking to serve neighboring markets.

Ohio (+11 positions)

Ohio moved from #18 in 2020 to #7 by 2025. Much of this growth was tied to the PJM Interconnection, the regional transmission organization that serves parts of 13 states and the District of Columbia. Ohio’s location within PJM, combined with corporate procurement agreements and the need to replace retiring coal capacity, made it a natural landing spot for large-scale solar investment.

Other notable climbers

Several other states made significant upward moves between 2020 and 2025: Arkansas rose from #23 to #9, Indiana moved from #32 to #3, and Michigan climbed from #27 to #13. In each case, the common driver was utility-scale solar rather than rooftop residential growth.

Why is the Midwest ranking so high for solar?

While states like Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan are not the sunniest in the U.S., solar rankings are driven by a combination of grid economics, land availability, and corporate demand rather than just irradiance levels.

The scale of this shift is significant: In 2025, solar energy met 81% of the entire electricity demand growth in the Midwest, a rate that matches Texas and confirms the region as a driver of the national energy transition.

Three primary factors stand out in the Midwest’s rise:

Grid demand and interconnection

The U.S. electrical grid is often described as the world’s most complex machine, and in the Midwest, it's undergoing a critical transition. As aging coal and natural gas plants retire, regional grid operators like PJM and MISO are leveraging existing high-voltage "plug-in" points to integrate large-scale solar more efficiently than regions requiring entirely new transmission lines.

Land availability and cost

Utility-scale solar requires approximately 5 to 7 acres of land per megawatt. The Midwest offers vast tracts of flat, cleared acreage at a significantly lower cost than the Northeast or West Coast. Also, solar panels operate more efficiently in cooler temperatures; the Midwest’s climate helps maintain higher panel voltage compared to the extreme heat of the desert Southwest, which can cause thermal degradation.

Policy and procurement

Midwestern states have increasingly adopted favorable conditions for development, including streamlined permitting and local tax incentives. However, the biggest driver is corporate procurement. Companies like Amazon, Google, and Meta—which have a massive data center presence in the region—are contracting for record amounts of local solar to meet 100% renewable energy mandates.

How regional trends reshaped the rankings

When you zoom out from individual states, a few broader patterns emerge.

The South expanded fast

Florida (#4), Arkansas (#9), and Kentucky (#11) all solidified positions in the top 15 by 2025. The Southeast, which historically lagged behind the West and Northeast in solar adoption, saw rapid growth in utility-scale capacity. States like Mississippi (from #31 to #14) and Louisiana (#30 to #15) also made meaningful jumps.

The Midwest arrived

Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and Missouri all moved up significantly. The Midwest wasn’t even part of the solar conversation ten years ago. Now it’s one of the fastest-growing regions for new capacity.

The Northeast plateaued

States like New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts—early adopters that ranked highly in 2020—saw their positions slip. New York went from #8 to #10, Massachusetts from #10 to #31, and New Jersey from #12 to #28. This doesn’t necessarily mean these states installed less solar in absolute terms, but other states grew faster.

The traditional Sun Belt held steady

Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico didn’t make dramatic moves, but they didn’t fall behind either. These states remained in the top 15 to 20, continuing to benefit from high irradiance and established markets.

What the rankings tell us about where solar is headed

The 2020–2025 data makes one thing clear: solar energy in the U.S. is no longer a regional story. It’s not just a California thing, or a Sun Belt thing. States across the South and Midwest are now major players, and in many cases they’re growing faster than the markets that came before them.

The states that climbed the most—Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Arkansas—share a common profile. They have available land, access to major grid infrastructure, and enough policy support (or at least the absence of major barriers) to attract large-scale development. That’s the formula that’s driving the current expansion.

For homeowners and energy consumers, the takeaway is straightforward. Solar is no longer limited to the sunniest states. If your state has moved up the installation rankings in recent years, it likely means your local market has more installer competition, better pricing, and more options than it did five years ago.

The rankings will keep shifting. But the direction of the trend—broader geographic reach, more utility-scale development, and a market that looks increasingly national rather than regional—seems well established.

Top solar states FAQs

Methodology and sources

To track the 2020–2025 solar boom, we analyzed annual data from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). We compared the rankings of all 50 states (plus DC and Puerto Rico) each year to see which markets were growing the fastest.

Our analysis focused on:

• Annual rankings: Which states installed the most solar capacity each calendar year.

• Market shifts: Identifying "climbers" that jumped significantly in the rankings.