Colorado pays about 15.1¢ per kilowatt-hour for residential electricity and receives about 5.5 kWh per square metre per day of sunlight — 22nd and 6th respectively among the 50 states and DC tracked here. Those two numbers set the ceiling on what rooftop solar returns in Colorado, and they point in the same direction.
Where Colorado sits against the rest of the country
Colorado is 0.3¢/kWh above the median residential rate across this dataset (14.8¢/kWh) and 0.9 kWh/m²/day above the median insolation (4.6 kWh/m²/day). Under this site's standard assumptions, that combination puts Colorado 13th of 51 for modeled payback speed, at 11.8 years against a dataset median of 13.5 years.
What actually drives payback in Colorado
Colorado ranks in the upper half on both inputs — 22nd for electricity price and 6th for sunlight. Swap Colorado's sunlight for the dataset median and payback moves to 13.8 years (2.0 years of swing). Swap its electricity rate instead and payback moves to 12.0 years (0.2 years of swing). The sunlight swap is the larger of the two, so how much sun the roof gets is the input deciding the outcome in Colorado.
State incentives on record
Recorded for Colorado: Sales and use tax exemption; property tax exemption; Xcel Energy Solar*Rewards declining-block incentive in select years; net metering retained.
No federal credit is applied above (Section 25D expired 31 December 2025), and export terms often matter more than the headline rate (net metering guide).
The modeled system, in numbers
At Colorado's sunlight level a 7 kW array produces roughly 10,961 kWh a year, worth about $1,655 in first-year bill savings at 15.1¢/kWh against an assumed $22,400 installed cost. A ten-year payback at this sunlight level would require a residential rate of about 18.3¢/kWh, which is 3.2¢ above what Colorado households pay today.
States with comparable economics
Colorado's closest analogues by modeled payback are New Jersey (12.1 years), Florida (12.1 years), Vermont (11.5 years). They arrive there from different rate and sunlight combinations, so their incentive rows are the useful comparison.
- New Jersey — modeled payback 12.1 years
- Florida — modeled payback 12.1 years
- Vermont — modeled payback 11.5 years