Peak sun hours in New York
New York averages 3.9 peak sun hours a day across the year, 43rd of the 50 states. At that figure a 400-watt panel produces about 1.20 kWh a day after real-world losses, and covering the 900 kWh average US bill takes about 25 panels. New York City, the state's biggest city, runs slightly ahead of the statewide figure at 4 hours; treat 3.9 as the midpoint of a real spread rather than a local reading.
modest sun: 3.9 of a possible ~6.5 hours
Panel counts for New York bills
Computed at New York's 3.9 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 | New York | System size | US average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500 kWh/mo | 14 panels | 5.6 kW | 12 panels |
| 750 kWh/mo | 21 panels | 8.4 kW | 18 panels |
| 900 kWh/mo | 25 panels | 10 kW | 22 panels |
| 1,000 kWh/mo | 28 panels | 11.2 kW | 24 panels |
| 1,500 kWh/mo | 42 panels | 16.8 kW | 36 panels |
| 2,000 kWh/mo | 55 panels | 22 kW | 48 panels |
What 3.9 hours means in practice
New York runs 13% below the national solar average, 43rd of 50 at 3.9 hours. That is workable sun, not bad sun: the 900 kWh bill takes 25 panels here versus 22 nationally, 3 more. Germany built the world's densest solar fleet on worse.
How a New York year is shaped
The 3.9-hour figure is an annual average, and no month is average. These are the twelve monthly means for New York from NASA's 2001-2020 solar climatology, each as a share of the state's own annual mean, with that share applied to the 3.9-hour planning figure. July and December are marked.
| Month | Share of the annual average | Peak sun hours (est.) |
|---|---|---|
| January | 41% | 1.6 |
| February | 63% | 2.5 |
| March | 96% | 3.7 |
| April | 124% | 4.9 |
| May | 147% | 5.7 |
| June | 159% | 6.2 |
| July | 162% | 6.3 |
| August | 143% | 5.6 |
| September | 114% | 4.5 |
| October | 70% | 2.7 |
| November | 46% | 1.8 |
| December | 32% | 1.2 |
New York's light is front-loaded into summer. July holds 162% of the annual average against December's 32%, 5.1 to one, and the four strongest months carry 51% of the year. Read across the table: 6.3 hours a day in July, about 1.2 in December. The annual average is honest arithmetic and thin planning, because most of the energy shows up in the months you need heating least.
Half the New York calendar sits above the annual average and half below: April through September are the six months that beat it, carrying 71% of the year's light. April is already worth about 4.9 hours a day, so the productive half of the year starts earlier than most people expect.
Bills here are small, which changes the shape of the whole decision: EIA put the average New York household at 571 kWh a month in 2024, 34% under the national 863 and among the lowest in the country. 16 panels cover it across a year, and 50 would be needed to cover it from December sun alone, 3.1 times as many. A gap that wide is what pushes people here onto net metering rather than a battery bank.
New York is more uniform than most. The 14 grid cells sampled across the state span 8%, sunniest in the southeast and dimmest in the northeast, which scales to about 4.1 hours against 3.7. Enough to notice on a production estimate, not enough to change which system you buy. New York City sits inside that band, not at the edge of it.
What that sun is worth on a New York bill
| EIA, 2024 residential averages | New York | United States |
|---|---|---|
| Average home's monthly use | 571 kWh | 863 kWh |
| Price per kilowatt-hour | 24.43¢ | 16.48¢ |
| Average monthly bill | $139.53 | $142.26 |
| One 400W panel, a year's output | 438 kWh | 506 kWh |
| What that output displaces | $107 | $83 |
New York pays 24.43¢ a kilowatt-hour, 7th highest in the country and 48% over the national 16.48¢. A single 400-watt panel therefore displaces about $107 of electricity a year here. Prices above the national line do more for a solar case than an extra half hour of sun does, because the sun sets the numerator and the rate sets what it is worth.
Which is why the sun ranking undersells New York. It places 43rd of fifty for sunlight and 7th for what a panel actually earns, a jump of 36 places, and the second number is the one that shows up on a bill. Compare it with a state that gets similar sun: Washington gets less sun (3.8 hours to New York's 3.9) and pays 11.9¢ against 24.43¢, so one panel is worth about $56 more a year in New York than in Washington.
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; 24.43¢ is every New York 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 New York?
About 25 400-watt panels (10 kW) for the 900 kWh a month an average US home uses, at New York's 3.9 peak sun hours. For the average New York home specifically, which EIA measured at 571 kWh a month in 2024, it is 16. Your own bill is the variable that matters, and the calculator takes any figure.
Is 3.9 peak sun hours good for solar?
It is below the 4.5-hour national average but far from disqualifying. Panel counts run about 15% higher here for the same bill, and the December trough measured above deserves respect in any off-grid plan. Grid-tied systems ride through it on net metering.
How much is one solar panel worth a year in New York?
About $107. One 400-watt panel at New York's 3.9 peak sun hours makes roughly 438 kWh a year after the 0.77 derate, and New York residential electricity averaged 24.43¢ a kilowatt-hour in 2024 (EIA), which puts New York 7th of the 50 states on this measure against 43rd 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 New York?
Yes, by a factor of 5.1 here. NASA's 2001-2020 climatology puts New York's July at 162% of the annual average and December at 32%, so the 3.9-hour figure on this page is the midpoint of a curve running from roughly 6.3 hours a day down to 1.2. Grid-tied homes bank the summer surplus as credit; off-grid designs have to size for the trough, and in New York that means 50 panels for an average local bill instead of 16.