Statistics

Solar Property Tax Exemption Statistics: Which States Actually Exempt Solar From Assessed Value

Quick answer

34 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, DC currently have a property tax exemption in effect for residential solar systems, according to Palmetto’s October 2025 guide, which names both SEIA and DSIRE as its sources. A separate, older figure from EcoWatch, whose page discloses it was last updated in May 2022, puts the count at 36 states. The gap between 36 and 34 plus PR and DC most likely reflects real policy change over roughly three years, states adding or letting exemptions lapse, rather than a research error, so this page leads with the fresher Palmetto figure.

No dedicated government database publishes this count directly. DSIRE, the federally supported incentive database most often cited for this kind of state-by-state policy question, does not maintain a standalone property tax exemption map in its static summary collection, confirmed by checking that collection directly, so every figure on this page traces to a secondary source naming SEIA and DSIRE rather than to a government page itself.

By VA Horizon Team · August 16, 2026 · 5 min read

The Current Count, and Why Two Sources Disagree

34 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, DC have a property tax exemption in effect for residential solar as of Palmetto’s guide, last edited October 15, 2025 and sourced to both SEIA and DSIRE by name. A separate figure from EcoWatch, whose own page discloses it was last updated in May 2022 despite sitting at a URL that reads as current, puts the count at 36 states. The two numbers do not describe the same date. Read together, they suggest something real: states have added or let solar property tax exemptions lapse over the roughly three years between the two counts, a more plausible explanation than either source simply being wrong.

Which States Show Up on Both Lists

Palmetto’s more recent, 34-state-plus-PR-and-DC list includes Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin among its full table. EcoWatch’s older 36-state list separately names Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin at full, 100% exempt status. States appearing on both lists are the safer bet for a current exemption; a state named only on the older EcoWatch list is worth double-checking against that state’s own tax authority before relying on it in a sales conversation.

Why No Government Database Answers This Directly

DSIRE, the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency, is the source most commonly pointed to for this kind of state-by-state incentive question, and both SEIA and Palmetto cite it. DSIRE’s own static Detailed Summary Maps collection does not include a dedicated property tax exemption map, confirmed by checking that collection directly rather than assuming it based on DSIRE’s general reputation for this kind of data. That gap is why this page, like the two secondaries it draws from, relies on a named-source summary rather than a direct government table, and why the 36-versus-34 discrepancy above has no single authoritative tiebreaker available.

The Numbers

34 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, DC have a property tax exemption in effect for residential solar, per Palmetto’s guide (last edited October 15, 2025), which names SEIA and DSIRE as its sources.

Palmetto, Sales and Property Tax Exemptions for Solar Panels

A separate, older EcoWatch figure puts the count at 36 states; EcoWatch’s own page discloses it was last updated in May 2022, despite its current-looking URL.

EcoWatch, Solar Tax Exemptions

DSIRE’s static Detailed Summary Maps collection does not include a dedicated property tax exemption map among its listed incentive maps, confirmed by checking the collection directly.

DSIRE, Detailed Summary Maps collection

States named at full, 100% exempt status on both the 2025 and 2022-dated lists include Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

EcoWatch, Solar Tax Exemptions

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.

FAQ

How many states exempt solar from property tax?

34 states, plus Puerto Rico and Washington, DC, according to Palmetto’s October 2025 guide, which names SEIA and DSIRE as its sources. An older EcoWatch page, last updated in May 2022, puts the count at 36 states, most likely reflecting real policy change since then rather than a research error.

Why do sources disagree on the number of states with a solar property tax exemption?

The two most current, named-source figures come from different dates: Palmetto’s guide was last edited in October 2025, EcoWatch’s in May 2022. States can add or let a property tax exemption lapse over that roughly three-year span, the more likely explanation for the 36-versus-34-plus-PR-and-DC gap.

Does DSIRE have an official state-by-state property tax exemption map?

No. DSIRE’s static Detailed Summary Maps collection, checked directly, does not include a dedicated property tax exemption map, which is why this page relies on secondary sources that name SEIA and DSIRE rather than a single government table.

Which states are most reliably confirmed to exempt solar from property tax?

States named at full, 100% exempt status on both the fresher 2025 list and the older 2022 list, including Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin, are the safer bet; a state appearing only on the older list is worth double-checking against that state’s own tax authority.

Where do these solar property tax exemption statistics come from?

Palmetto’s solar tax exemption guide, which names SEIA and DSIRE as its sources, EcoWatch’s older exemption guide for comparison, and DSIRE’s own Detailed Summary Maps collection for the negative finding that no dedicated map exists there. Every figure above links to its source.

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