- The middle half earn between $21.75 and $28.57 an hour.
- Connecticut ranks 13th of the 32 states with published figures for median pay in this trade.
- Connecticut pays less than both neighboring states.
- At the state median wage, a solar installation company needs to bill about $117.53 an hour on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers.
Solar Installer pay in Connecticut, bottom to top
BLS calls this group solar photovoltaic installers: the crews who mount, wire and set up solar panels on roofs and on the ground.
| Pay level | Hourly | Yearly | National hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $21.75 | $45,240 | $20.00 |
| 25th percentile | $21.75 | $45,240 | $22.45 |
| Median | $26.73 | $55,590 | $25.55 |
| 75th percentile | $28.57 | $59,430 | $30.23 |
| 90th percentile | $34.05 | $70,820 | $38.45 |
| Average (mean) | $26.58 | $55,290 | $27.84 |
Pay is bunched up in Connecticut. The top tenth earn $34.05 an hour or more, about 1.6 times the $21.75 at the bottom tenth. Nationally that gap is 1.9 times, so the step from the bottom of the scale to the top is shorter here than in most places.
The floor is higher than nationally ($21.75 against $20.00) but the ceiling is lower ($34.05 against $38.45), which squeezes pay toward the middle.
The average, $26.58, is close to the median, so pay sits fairly evenly around the middle.
How Connecticut compares with other states
Over a full year the gap to the national median is small: $55,590 in Connecticut against $53,140 nationally, $2,450 more.
In the state ranking, Connecticut sits 13th, between New York ($27.00) and Arizona ($24.60). The range runs from $20.37 in South Dakota to $37.96 in New Jersey.
Every one of the neighboring states pays solar installers more than Connecticut. The closest is New York at $27.00, and the biggest gap is with Massachusetts.
| Neighboring state | Median hourly | Median yearly | Against Connecticut |
|---|---|---|---|
| Connecticut | $26.73 | $55,590 | |
| Massachusetts | $28.45 | $59,180 | +$1.72 an hour |
| New York | $27.00 | $56,160 | +$0.27 an hour |
How many solar installers work in Connecticut
BLS did not publish a count of solar installers employed in Connecticut for May 2025. That happens when the survey sample is too thin to estimate the number with confidence. The wage figures above were published and are used as they are.
What a solar installation company in Connecticut should charge
Say you run a solar installation company in Connecticut and pay the state median of $26.73 an hour. Here is the labor rate calculator's math on its starting numbers: 40-hour weeks, 10 paid days off, 2 unbilled hours a day, 7.65% payroll taxes, $90,000 a year of overhead and 15% profit.
| Step | Math | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Paid hours | 40 × 52 | 2,080 |
| Hours at work | 2,080 − 10 days × 8 | 2,000 |
| Billable hours | 2,000 × 6 ÷ 8 | 1,500 |
| Labor cost | $26.73 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $59,852 |
| Break-even rate | ($59,852 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $99.90 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $99.90 ÷ 0.85 | $117.53 |
That is $117.53 per billable hour, 4.4 times the wage, and $2.07 more than the $115.46 the same math gives at the national median wage.
Paying the 75th percentile instead, $28.57 in Connecticut, to hire and keep experienced people raises the rate to $120.76.
A cheaper crew saves less than it seems: at the 25th percentile wage of $21.75, the rate only drops to $108.78.
Overhead, at $60 of every billed hour, and the unbilled hours move this rate more than a raise does. A dollar more in wages adds about $1.76 to the rate.
Run it with your own numbers in the labor rate calculator. It is free and shows every step.
Where these numbers come from
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
The figures are the BLS state estimates for SOC 47-2231, solar photovoltaic installers, across all industries, read straight from the May 2025 state data file. They cover wage and salary workers, not the self-employed. Where BLS did not publish a figure, this page leaves it out.
All states in one table: solar installer salary by state.