Is solar worth it in Florida?
Short answer for a typical Florida home: a reasonable payback if you'll stay put — roughly 9.0 years to break even after the 30% credit. Run your own bill through the calculator below.
Florida gets good sunshine — about 5.3 peak sun hours a day — and residential electricity runs around $0.15/kWh. For a typical $150-a-month power bill, that points to roughly a 7.8-kW system costing about $16,283 after the 30% federal tax credit, paying for itself in about 9.0 years and netting on the order of $45,081 over 25 years. Your own numbers will differ — the calculator above uses your real bill.
The Sunshine State lives up to the name with strong production, and Florida still offers full 1:1 retail net metering, so exported power is credited at full value. Cheap-ish electricity tempers savings a little, but payback is generally good.
What changes the math in Florida
- Your electricity rate — the more you pay per kWh, the more each solar kWh saves you. Florida sits at about $0.15.
- Sun hours — more sun means a smaller, cheaper system covers the same usage. Florida averages ~5.3 hours.
- Net metering / buyback — how your utility credits power you export swings the payback; check your specific utility's current terms.
- Install cost — quotes vary by installer and roof; the calculator defaults to a typical $/watt you can override.