Peak sun hours in Texas
Texas averages 5.3 peak sun hours a day across the year, 8th of the 50 states. At that figure a 400-watt panel produces about 1.63 kWh a day after real-world losses, and covering the 900 kWh average US bill takes about 19 panels. Houston, the state's biggest city, comes in 0.4 hours under the statewide 5.3 at 4.9, so most of Texas's sun is somewhere other than where most of its people are. Size off 4.9 if you live there.
strong sun: 5.3 of a possible ~6.5 hours
Panel counts for Texas bills
Computed at Texas's 5.3 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 | Texas | System size | US average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500 kWh/mo | 11 panels | 4.4 kW | 12 panels |
| 750 kWh/mo | 16 panels | 6.4 kW | 18 panels |
| 900 kWh/mo | 19 panels | 7.6 kW | 22 panels |
| 1,000 kWh/mo | 21 panels | 8.4 kW | 24 panels |
| 1,500 kWh/mo | 31 panels | 12.4 kW | 36 panels |
| 2,000 kWh/mo | 41 panels | 16.4 kW | 48 panels |
What 5.3 hours means in practice
Texas sits in the strong tier of American sun, 8th of 50 at 5.3 hours, 18% above the national average. In panel terms the 900 kWh average bill needs 19 panels here instead of the US-average 22. Systems this far into the Sun Belt usually pencil on production alone; the variables that actually kill quotes here are shade and roof direction, not the resource.
How a Texas year is shaped
The 5.3-hour figure is an annual average, and no month is average. These are the twelve monthly means for Texas from NASA's 2001-2020 solar climatology, each as a share of the state's own annual mean, with that share applied to the 5.3-hour planning figure. June and December are marked.
| Month | Share of the annual average | Peak sun hours (est.) |
|---|---|---|
| January | 62% | 3.3 |
| February | 75% | 4.0 |
| March | 97% | 5.1 |
| April | 117% | 6.2 |
| May | 128% | 6.8 |
| June | 139% | 7.4 |
| July | 135% | 7.2 |
| August | 126% | 6.7 |
| September | 106% | 5.6 |
| October | 88% | 4.7 |
| November | 68% | 3.6 |
| December | 56% | 3.0 |
Texas has a shallow year by American standards, 2.5 to one between June and December, which still returns 56% of the annual average, around 3.0 hours a day. Only 44% of the light lands in the four best months, against 7.4 hours at the June peak. Nothing here is seasonal enough to change how you size a grid-tied array.
Half the Texas calendar sits above the annual average and half below: April through September are the six months that beat it, carrying 63% of the year's light. April is already worth about 6.2 hours a day, so the productive half of the year starts earlier than most people expect.
Set that against what Texas homes actually draw. EIA measured 1,096 kWh a month for the average household here in 2024, 27% above the US figure, which is 23 panels at the annual average sun. Hold the same house to a December and the count goes to 40, 1.7 times higher. Net metering is what makes the first number the one that matters.
Texas is one of the states where a statewide number does the most damage: it has the 3rd widest internal spread of the fifty. Across the 20 grid cells sampled here the west runs 29% sunnier than the northeast. Held against the 5.3-hour statewide figure that is roughly 6.1 hours at one end and 4.5 at the other, which is the difference between two quite different quotes. Nobody should size a Texas roof off the state average without checking which end of the state it sits on.
What that sun is worth on a Texas bill
| EIA, 2024 residential averages | Texas | United States |
|---|---|---|
| Average home's monthly use | 1,096 kWh | 863 kWh |
| Price per kilowatt-hour | 14.94¢ | 16.48¢ |
| Average monthly bill | $163.72 | $142.26 |
| One 400W panel, a year's output | 596 kWh | 506 kWh |
| What that output displaces | $89 | $83 |
Cheap power cuts the other way. Texas residential electricity averaged 14.94¢ a kilowatt-hour in 2024, 9% under the national 16.48¢ and 28th cheapest in the country, so the same panel that offsets $83 a year at national rates offsets about $89 here. Nothing is wrong with the sun. There is just less money in each kilowatt-hour it makes.
Texas ranks 8th of fifty for sun but 15th for what a panel is worth, 7 places lower, because the power it displaces is cheap. Florida gets less sun (5.2 hours to Texas's 5.3) and pays 14.14¢ against 14.94¢, so one panel is worth about $6 more a year in Texas than in Florida.
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; 14.94¢ is every Texas 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 Texas?
About 19 400-watt panels (7.6 kW) for the 900 kWh a month an average US home uses, at Texas's 5.3 peak sun hours. For the average Texas home specifically, which EIA measured at 1,096 kWh a month in 2024, it is 23. Your own bill is the variable that matters, and the calculator takes any figure.
Is 5.3 peak sun hours good for solar?
Yes, comfortably. Texas ranks 8th of the 50 states, 18% above the national average, which means fewer panels per kWh of bill than almost anywhere else in the country.
How much is one solar panel worth a year in Texas?
About $89. One 400-watt panel at Texas's 5.3 peak sun hours makes roughly 596 kWh a year after the 0.77 derate, and Texas residential electricity averaged 14.94¢ a kilowatt-hour in 2024 (EIA), which puts Texas 15th of the 50 states on this measure against 8th 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 Texas?
Yes, by a factor of 2.5 here. NASA's 2001-2020 climatology puts Texas's June at 139% of the annual average and December at 56%, so the 5.3-hour figure on this page is the midpoint of a curve running from roughly 7.4 hours a day down to 3.0. Grid-tied homes bank the summer surplus as credit; off-grid designs have to size for the trough, and in Texas that means 40 panels for an average local bill instead of 23.