Oregon pays about 13.1¢ per kilowatt-hour for residential electricity and receives about 4.0 kWh per square metre per day of sunlight — 38th and 48th respectively among the 50 states and DC tracked here. Those two numbers set the ceiling on what rooftop solar returns in Oregon, and they point in the same direction.
Where Oregon sits against the rest of the country
Oregon is 1.7¢/kWh below the median residential rate across this dataset (14.8¢/kWh) and 0.6 kWh/m²/day below the median insolation (4.6 kWh/m²/day). Under this site's standard assumptions, that combination puts Oregon 50th of 51 for modeled payback speed, at 17.4 years against a dataset median of 13.5 years.
What actually drives payback in Oregon
Oregon ranks in the lower half on both inputs — 38th for electricity price and 48th for sunlight. Swap Oregon's sunlight for the dataset median and payback moves to 15.5 years (1.9 years of swing). Swap its electricity rate instead and payback moves to 15.7 years (1.7 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 Oregon.
State incentives on record
Recorded for Oregon: Oregon Solar + Storage Rebate (income-tier based); net metering retained for IOUs; property tax exemption.
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 Oregon's sunlight level a 7 kW array produces roughly 7,972 kWh a year, worth about $1,044 in first-year bill savings at 13.1¢/kWh against an assumed $22,400 installed cost. A ten-year payback at this sunlight level would require a residential rate of about 25.1¢/kWh, which is 12.0¢ above what Oregon households pay today.
States with comparable economics
Oregon's closest analogues by modeled payback are North Dakota (17.4 years), Montana (16.6 years), Idaho (16.6 years). They arrive there from different rate and sunlight combinations, so their incentive rows are the useful comparison.
- North Dakota — modeled payback 17.4 years
- Montana — modeled payback 16.6 years
- Idaho — modeled payback 16.6 years