The Fastest and Slowest States on Record
Among the states with enough data to rank, New York posts the fastest median solar permit approval time at 25 days, followed by Nevada at 27, Texas at 28, California at 29, and Illinois at 30, per a solar-industry analysis citing NREL’s SolarTRACE platform. Arizona and Florida sit in the middle at 34 days each, with Massachusetts at 39, Georgia at 45, and Virginia and Ohio at 47. Colorado, Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Jersey, and North Carolina sit slowest, in a 48-to-64-plus-day range the source itself describes as approximate estimates rather than precise statewide medians.
The National Before-and-After Number
Nationally, median permit-to-inspection time has fallen from 47.5 days under traditional manual review to 33 days for jurisdictions using the SolarAPP+ instant-permitting platform, a 31% reduction, alongside roughly 29% fewer inspection failures for SolarAPP+ projects. That figure is a more recent measurement than SolarAPP+’s own 2021 launch data, which showed a smaller before-and-after gap of 45 days down to 32, about 13 days faster. The two figures come from different report vintages, 2021 versus 2023-2025 data, and should be read as two separate snapshots of an improving trend rather than blended into one number.
Why Only 16 States Have Enough Data to Rank
The state-by-state ranking above covers only 16 of roughly 46 states with any tracked data; the rest are excluded by the source itself for minimal solar deployment or insufficient installation volume to calculate a reliable median. That means the 25-to-64-plus-day range described above is not a complete 50-state picture, it is the range among states where solar activity is high enough to measure with any confidence. A state absent from the ranking is not necessarily fast or slow, it may simply not have enough permit volume yet to produce a number worth publishing.
The Numbers
New York posts the fastest median solar permit approval time at 25 days, followed by Nevada (27), Texas (28), California (29), and Illinois (30).
Colorado, Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Jersey, and North Carolina sit slowest, in a 48-to-64-plus-day range the source describes as approximate estimates; only 16 of roughly 46 states have enough data to rank.
Nationally, median permit-to-inspection time fell from 47.5 days (traditional review) to 33 days (SolarAPP+), a 31% reduction, with roughly 29% fewer inspection failures.
Energyscape Renewables, citing NREL’s SolarAPP+ performance review
An earlier, 2021 launch-year measurement from SolarAPP+’s own knowledge base showed a smaller gap: 45 days down to 32, about 13 days faster, a different report vintage than the more recent 47.5-to-33 figure.
SolarAPP+ Knowledge Base, citing NREL’s 2022 Performance Review
Sources
The external data in this article draws on the sources below. Figures described in the text as estimates or industry triangulations are directional and are not attributed to a single dataset.
- Solar Permit Solutions, citing NREL’s SolarTRACE platform
- Energyscape Renewables, citing NREL’s SolarAPP+ performance review
- SolarAPP+ Knowledge Base, citing NREL’s 2022 Performance Review