Peak sun hours in Mississippi
Mississippi averages 4.7 peak sun hours a day across the year, 18th of the 50 states. At that figure a 400-watt panel produces about 1.45 kWh a day after real-world losses, and covering the 900 kWh average US bill takes about 21 panels. Jackson, the state's biggest city, runs slightly ahead of the statewide figure at 4.8 hours; treat 4.7 as the midpoint of a real spread rather than a local reading.
solid mid-pack sun: 4.7 of a possible ~6.5 hours
Panel counts for Mississippi bills
Computed at Mississippi's 4.7 hours with 400W panels and the 0.77 derate; the US-average column shows what the same bill takes at 4.5 hours, so you can see what your state's sun is worth in hardware.
| Monthly usage | Mississippi | System size | US average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500 kWh/mo | 12 panels | 4.8 kW | 12 panels |
| 750 kWh/mo | 18 panels | 7.2 kW | 18 panels |
| 900 kWh/mo | 21 panels | 8.4 kW | 22 panels |
| 1,000 kWh/mo | 23 panels | 9.2 kW | 24 panels |
| 1,500 kWh/mo | 35 panels | 14 kW | 36 panels |
| 2,000 kWh/mo | 46 panels | 18.4 kW | 48 panels |
What 4.7 hours means in practice
Mississippi is mid-pack American sun: 18th of 50 at 4.7 peak sun hours, within 4% of the national average. The 900 kWh average bill lands at 21 panels against 22 nationally. At this tier the resource neither makes nor breaks the project, which is what the rate and the seasonal spread below are for.
How a Mississippi year is shaped
The 4.7-hour figure is an annual average, and no month is average. These are the twelve monthly means for Mississippi from NASA's 2001-2020 solar climatology, each as a share of the state's own annual mean, with that share applied to the 4.7-hour planning figure. June and December are marked.
| Month | Share of the annual average | Peak sun hours (est.) |
|---|---|---|
| January | 59% | 2.8 |
| February | 71% | 3.3 |
| March | 95% | 4.5 |
| April | 121% | 5.7 |
| May | 134% | 6.3 |
| June | 141% | 6.6 |
| July | 134% | 6.3 |
| August | 124% | 5.8 |
| September | 111% | 5.2 |
| October | 90% | 4.2 |
| November | 68% | 3.2 |
| December | 52% | 2.4 |
Mississippi has a shallow year by American standards, 2.7 to one between June and December, which still returns 52% of the annual average, around 2.4 hours a day. Only 44% of the light lands in the four best months, against 6.6 hours at the June peak. Nothing here is seasonal enough to change how you size a grid-tied array.
Half the Mississippi calendar sits above the annual average and half below: April through September are the six months that beat it, carrying 64% of the year's light. April is already worth about 5.7 hours a day, so the productive half of the year starts earlier than most people expect.
That matters most where homes are hungry, and Mississippi's are: EIA put the average household here at 1,156 kWh a month in 2024, 34% above the national 863. Covering that bill on an annual average takes 27 panels. Covering it inside a Mississippi December, with no grid and no bank of summer credit, takes 51, about 1.9 times as many. Grid-tied you never see the difference. Off-grid it is the whole design.
Mississippi is more uniform than most. The 13 grid cells sampled across the state span 7%, sunniest in the south and dimmest in the northeast, which scales to about 4.9 hours against 4.5. Enough to notice on a production estimate, not enough to change which system you buy. Jackson sits inside that band, not at the edge of it.
What that sun is worth on a Mississippi bill
| EIA, 2024 residential averages | Mississippi | United States |
|---|---|---|
| Average home's monthly use | 1,156 kWh | 863 kWh |
| Price per kilowatt-hour | 13.39¢ | 16.48¢ |
| Average monthly bill | $154.83 | $142.26 |
| One 400W panel, a year's output | 528 kWh | 506 kWh |
| What that output displaces | $71 | $83 |
Cheap power cuts the other way. Mississippi residential electricity averaged 13.39¢ a kilowatt-hour in 2024, 19% under the national 16.48¢ and 15th cheapest in the country, so the same panel that offsets $83 a year at national rates offsets about $71 here. Nothing is wrong with the sun. There is just less money in each kilowatt-hour it makes.
Here the sun ranking flatters Mississippi. 18th of fifty for sunlight, but only 32nd for what a panel earns in a year, a drop of 14 places, and the reason is entirely the price of the electricity being replaced. Idaho gets less sun (4.6 hours to Mississippi's 4.7) and pays 11.52¢ against 13.39¢, so one panel is worth about $11 more a year in Mississippi than in Idaho.
Two warnings on those dollar figures. They are displaced electricity and nothing else: no install cost, no incentive, no financing, and no assumption about how your utility settles a surplus, which is the single biggest unknown in the sum. And a state average hides the utility you are actually on; 13.39¢ is every Mississippi residential customer averaged together, and neighbouring territories can differ by more than the gap between two states in the ranking.
Getting a number for your address
For a location-exact figure, run your address through NREL's free PVWatts; it uses measured weather for your grid cell and will also model roof tilt and direction, which statewide numbers cannot. Then compare its annual kWh against a quote's promise before you sign anything.
Questions people ask
How many solar panels do I need in Mississippi?
About 21 400-watt panels (8.4 kW) for the 900 kWh a month an average US home uses, at Mississippi's 4.7 peak sun hours. For the average Mississippi home specifically, which EIA measured at 1,156 kWh a month in 2024, it is 27. Your own bill is the variable that matters, and the calculator takes any figure.
Is 4.7 peak sun hours good for solar?
It is solidly workable. Mississippi sits near the national average of 4.5 hours, so panel counts here match the US-typical figures, and project economics turn on your utility's rates and net-metering terms rather than on the sun.
How much is one solar panel worth a year in Mississippi?
About $71. One 400-watt panel at Mississippi's 4.7 peak sun hours makes roughly 528 kWh a year after the 0.77 derate, and Mississippi residential electricity averaged 13.39¢ a kilowatt-hour in 2024 (EIA), which puts Mississippi 32nd of the 50 states on this measure against 18th on sunlight alone. That figure is displaced electricity only. It says nothing about install cost, incentives, or how your utility settles a surplus.
Do peak sun hours change with the seasons in Mississippi?
Yes, by a factor of 2.7 here. NASA's 2001-2020 climatology puts Mississippi's June at 141% of the annual average and December at 52%, so the 4.7-hour figure on this page is the midpoint of a curve running from roughly 6.6 hours a day down to 2.4. Grid-tied homes bank the summer surplus as credit; off-grid designs have to size for the trough, and in Mississippi that means 51 panels for an average local bill instead of 27.