Florida pays about 14.9¢ per kilowatt-hour for residential electricity and receives about 5.4 kWh per square metre per day of sunlight — 23rd and 7th respectively among the 50 states and DC tracked here. Those two numbers set the ceiling on what rooftop solar returns in Florida, and they point in the same direction.
Where Florida sits against the rest of the country
Florida is 0.1¢/kWh above the median residential rate across this dataset (14.8¢/kWh) and 0.8 kWh/m²/day above the median insolation (4.6 kWh/m²/day). Under this site's standard assumptions, that combination puts Florida 15th of 51 for modeled payback speed, at 12.1 years against a dataset median of 13.5 years.
What actually drives payback in Florida
Florida ranks in the upper half on both inputs — 23rd for electricity price and 7th for sunlight. Swap Florida's sunlight for the dataset median and payback moves to 13.9 years (1.8 years of swing). Swap its electricity rate instead and payback moves to 12.2 years (0.1 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 Florida.
State incentives on record
Recorded for Florida: Property tax exemption and sales tax exemption on solar equipment; net metering retained after 2022 veto of HB 741; no statewide income tax.
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 Florida's sunlight level a 7 kW array produces roughly 10,762 kWh a year, worth about $1,603 in first-year bill savings at 14.9¢/kWh against an assumed $22,400 installed cost. A ten-year payback at this sunlight level would require a residential rate of about 18.6¢/kWh, which is 3.7¢ above what Florida households pay today.
States with comparable economics
Florida's closest analogues by modeled payback are New Jersey (12.1 years), Texas (12.3 years), Michigan (12.3 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
- Texas — modeled payback 12.3 years
- Michigan — modeled payback 12.3 years
Florida-specific notes
Florida's headline economics depend on retail net metering, which was preserved by the 2022 veto of HB 741. Because the model above values every produced kilowatt-hour at the retail rate, it is more sensitive to a future net-metering change here than in states that have already moved to net billing.