SunYieldMap

The sunniest and least sunny U.S. cities for solar panels

By Emily CarterPublished Data as of 2026-10-27: PVWatts® v8, typical-year weather

El Paso, TX is the sunniest of the 100 cities for solar panels: 1 kW there makes 1,835 kWh a year. Anchorage, AK is the least sunny at 951 kWh, so the same panels make 1.93× as much in El Paso. After El Paso the top ten is all Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico; the bottom ten mixes Alaska and the Pacific Northwest with cities from Pennsylvania to New Hampshire.

The ten sunniest cities

The top of the ranking is a tight desert cluster. Ten cities make more than 1,750 kWh per kW a year, and the gap between first and tenth is only 84 kWh. The last column is the average sunlight reaching a south-facing 20° panel, which is what the model turns into electricity.

The ten sunniest of 100 cities
CityRankkWh per kW a yearSun on panel, kWh/m²/day
El Paso, TX11,8356.66
Tucson, AZ21,7886.57
North Las Vegas, NV31,7846.52
Albuquerque, NM41,7796.42
Henderson, NV51,7696.46
Phoenix, AZ61,7556.51
Las Vegas, NV71,7546.40
Chandler, AZ81,7536.53
Mesa, AZ91,7516.53
Gilbert, AZ101,7506.52

The Phoenix area alone supplies four of the ten (Phoenix, Chandler, Mesa and Gilbert) and the Las Vegas area three (Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas). The four Phoenix-area cities are within 4.4 kWh of each other, which is what you would expect from places that share the same weather.

The ten least sunny cities

The bottom ten splits into two groups: the far north-west (Anchorage, AK, Seattle, WA and Portland, OR) and a band of cities in Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia, Vermont, Ohio and New Hampshire.

The ten least sunny of 100 cities
CityRankkWh per kW a yearSun on panel, kWh/m²/day
Anchorage, AK1009513.15
Seattle, WA991,0883.95
Portland, OR981,1214.06
Pittsburgh, PA971,1914.39
Buffalo, NY961,2024.27
Charleston, WV951,2194.57
Burlington, VT941,2224.36
Cleveland, OH931,2554.37
Manchester, NH921,2554.59
Cincinnati, OH911,2734.68

Anchorage is in a class of its own. At 951 kWh per kW it trails the next city, Seattle, by 137 kWh, and its December figure is 8.8 kWh per kW: close to nothing. Its best month, May, makes 153.7, slightly more than the July of the median U.S. city (149.4). The year is lost in the dark months, not the bright ones.

Latitude explains only part of the ranking

The further north a city is, the less its panels tend to make, but the link is loose. The correlation between latitude and yearly output across the 100 cities is −0.63. Across the 98 cities of the contiguous states, output falls by about 22 kWh per kW for each degree north, on average.

Latitude and yearly outputEach dot is a city: latitude across, kWh per kW a year up
1,0001,2001,4001,6001,80020°30°40°50°60°City latitudeEl Paso, TX: 31.8°, 1,835 kWh per kWTucson, AZ: 32.2°, 1,788 kWh per kWNorth Las Vegas, NV: 36.3°, 1,784 kWh per kWAlbuquerque, NM: 35.1°, 1,779 kWh per kWHenderson, NV: 36.0°, 1,769 kWh per kWPhoenix, AZ: 33.6°, 1,755 kWh per kWLas Vegas, NV: 36.2°, 1,754 kWh per kWChandler, AZ: 33.3°, 1,753 kWh per kWMesa, AZ: 33.4°, 1,751 kWh per kWGilbert, AZ: 33.3°, 1,750 kWh per kWChula Vista, CA: 32.6°, 1,728 kWh per kWRiverside, CA: 33.9°, 1,719 kWh per kWBakersfield, CA: 35.4°, 1,684 kWh per kWSan Diego, CA: 32.8°, 1,682 kWh per kWLos Angeles, CA: 34.0°, 1,679 kWh per kWLong Beach, CA: 33.8°, 1,678 kWh per kWSanta Ana, CA: 33.7°, 1,676 kWh per kWAnaheim, CA: 33.9°, 1,673 kWh per kWReno, NV: 39.5°, 1,667 kWh per kWIrvine, CA: 33.7°, 1,664 kWh per kWFresno, CA: 36.8°, 1,654 kWh per kWColorado Springs, CO: 38.9°, 1,629 kWh per kWStockton, CA: 38.0°, 1,624 kWh per kWSan Jose, CA: 37.3°, 1,624 kWh per kWSacramento, CA: 38.6°, 1,614 kWh per kWAurora, CO: 39.7°, 1,612 kWh per kWDenver, CO: 39.8°, 1,602 kWh per kWHonolulu, HI: 21.3°, 1,586 kWh per kWOakland, CA: 37.8°, 1,582 kWh per kWTampa, FL: 28.0°, 1,568 kWh per kWMiami, FL: 25.8°, 1,558 kWh per kWCheyenne, WY: 41.1°, 1,554 kWh per kWSan Francisco, CA: 37.8°, 1,548 kWh per kWArlington, TX: 32.7°, 1,545 kWh per kWCorpus Christi, TX: 27.7°, 1,542 kWh per kWOklahoma City, OK: 35.5°, 1,542 kWh per kWFort Worth, TX: 32.8°, 1,535 kWh per kWPlano, TX: 33.1°, 1,527 kWh per kWWichita, KS: 37.7°, 1,526 kWh per kWNew Orleans, LA: 30.1°, 1,521 kWh per kWOrlando, FL: 28.4°, 1,507 kWh per kWSan Antonio, TX: 29.5°, 1,504 kWh per kWDallas, TX: 32.8°, 1,500 kWh per kWSalt Lake City, UT: 40.8°, 1,485 kWh per kWAustin, TX: 30.3°, 1,483 kWh per kWLincoln, NE: 40.8°, 1,471 kWh per kWTulsa, OK: 36.1°, 1,470 kWh per kWBoise, ID: 43.6°, 1,468 kWh per kWJacksonville, FL: 30.3°, 1,455 kWh per kWCharleston, SC: 32.8°, 1,455 kWh per kWKansas City, MO: 39.1°, 1,445 kWh per kWGreensboro, NC: 36.1°, 1,444 kWh per kWMemphis, TN: 35.1°, 1,439 kWh per kWVirginia Beach, VA: 36.8°, 1,434 kWh per kWOmaha, NE: 41.3°, 1,431 kWh per kWJackson, MS: 32.3°, 1,428 kWh per kWHouston, TX: 29.8°, 1,421 kWh per kWAtlanta, GA: 33.8°, 1,416 kWh per kWSioux Falls, SD: 43.5°, 1,409 kWh per kWBaltimore, MD: 39.3°, 1,392 kWh per kWWashington, DC: 38.9°, 1,392 kWh per kWCharlotte, NC: 35.2°, 1,391 kWh per kWSt. Louis, MO: 38.6°, 1,388 kWh per kWHuntsville, AL: 34.7°, 1,387 kWh per kWLittle Rock, AR: 34.7°, 1,370 kWh per kWRaleigh, NC: 35.8°, 1,370 kWh per kWDes Moines, IA: 41.6°, 1,367 kWh per kWWilmington, DE: 39.7°, 1,364 kWh per kWDurham, NC: 36.0°, 1,360 kWh per kWNew York, NY: 40.7°, 1,353 kWh per kWPhiladelphia, PA: 40.0°, 1,348 kWh per kWLouisville, KY: 38.2°, 1,344 kWh per kWLexington, KY: 38.0°, 1,342 kWh per kWNashville, TN: 36.2°, 1,338 kWh per kWMilwaukee, WI: 43.1°, 1,338 kWh per kWBillings, MT: 45.8°, 1,334 kWh per kWChicago, IL: 41.8°, 1,333 kWh per kWMinneapolis, MN: 45.0°, 1,333 kWh per kWIndianapolis, IN: 39.8°, 1,332 kWh per kWSt. Paul, MN: 44.9°, 1,325 kWh per kWPortland, ME: 43.7°, 1,316 kWh per kWMadison, WI: 43.1°, 1,314 kWh per kWNewark, NJ: 40.7°, 1,306 kWh per kWJersey City, NJ: 40.7°, 1,305 kWh per kWFargo, ND: 46.9°, 1,304 kWh per kWColumbus, OH: 40.0°, 1,296 kWh per kWDetroit, MI: 42.4°, 1,295 kWh per kWProvidence, RI: 41.8°, 1,294 kWh per kWBridgeport, CT: 41.2°, 1,291 kWh per kWBoston, MA: 42.3°, 1,275 kWh per kWCincinnati, OH: 39.1°, 1,273 kWh per kWManchester, NH: 43.0°, 1,255 kWh per kWCleveland, OH: 41.5°, 1,255 kWh per kWBurlington, VT: 44.5°, 1,222 kWh per kWCharleston, WV: 38.3°, 1,219 kWh per kWBuffalo, NY: 42.9°, 1,202 kWh per kWPittsburgh, PA: 40.4°, 1,191 kWh per kWPortland, OR: 45.5°, 1,121 kWh per kWSeattle, WA: 47.6°, 1,088 kWh per kWAnchorage, AK: 61.2°, 951 kWh per kWEl PasoHonoluluMinneapolisSeattleAnchorage

The clearest counter-example is Seattle, WA against Minneapolis, MN. Seattle is 2.7° further north, yet Minneapolis panels make 245 kWh per kW more a year (1,333 against 1,088). Going south does not guarantee much either: Houston, TX, at 29.8°, makes 1,421, less than Denver (1,602), which is 10° further north.

The table lists the cities that sit furthest above and below the latitude trend line, in kWh per kW a year.

Furthest above and below what latitude alone would suggest (contiguous states)
CityLatitudekWh per kWvs trend
North Las Vegas, NV36.3°1,784+286
Henderson, NV36.0°1,769+265
Las Vegas, NV36.2°1,754+256
Albuquerque, NM35.1°1,779+255
Reno, NV39.5°1,667+241
Charleston, WV38.3°1,219−233
Houston, TX29.8°1,421−219
Pittsburgh, PA40.4°1,191−215
Jacksonville, FL30.3°1,455−174
Portland, OR45.5°1,121−173

Sunlight on the panel is the real ranking

Replace latitude with the sunlight that actually reaches the panel and the picture sharpens. The correlation between average daily radiation on the panel and yearly output is 0.99. Houston receives 5.22 kWh/m² a day on a 20° south roof, El Paso, 2° further north, 6.66. That difference, not the map position, is what separates them.

In whole-system terms, a 6 kW array makes about 11,010 kWh a year in El Paso, 8,700 in the median city and 5,700 in Anchorage. The full list is on the rankings page, and the estimator puts any two cities side by side.

Where the largest cities rank

Of the five most populous cities on the list, one makes the top ten and none is in the bottom ten. New York, NY ranks 70th with 1,353; Los Angeles, CA ranks 15th with 1,679; Chicago, IL ranks 77th with 1,333; Houston, TX ranks 57th with 1,421; Phoenix, AZ ranks 6th with 1,755. Phoenix is the one in the top ten, and New York and Chicago sit below the national median of 1,450.

The middle of the ranking is crowded. The 16 cities within 3% of the median, between 1,406 and 1,493 kWh per kW, include places as far apart as Boise, ID, Kansas City, MO and Virginia Beach, VA. Within that band, rank differences of ten places amount to a few dozen kWh per kW a year, so a rank is best read together with the figure beside it.

Nearby cities can still differ a lot. The biggest gap between a city and one of its listed neighbours within 400 km is between Greensboro, NC and Charleston, WV, 297 km apart: 1,444 against 1,219 kWh per kW, a difference of 15.5%. Each city page lists its nearest listed cities with the same comparison.

Sources

  • PVWatts® Calculator API v8, National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR, formerly NREL): developer.nlr.gov. 600 model runs (100 cities × 6 layouts), retrieved 2026-10-27.
  • Weather: NSRDB typical-meteorological-year data returned by PVWatts® (NSRDB PSM V3 GOES tmy-2020 3.2.0, NSRDB PSM V4 Polar tmy-2023 1.0.0).
  • City list and locations: U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2024 Population Estimates for incorporated places (SUB-EST2024) and U.S. Census Bureau, 2024 Gazetteer Files - Places (census.gov).
  • Every figure in this guide is computed by SunYieldMap from those model runs. Settings and limits are in the methodology.