National solar jobs census shows employment level with 2023 and indicates cautious optimism for the future due to strong deployment and efficiency gains.
pv magazine (nov 21, 2025) – The Interstate Renewable Energy Council’s (IREC) 15th annual National Solar Jobs Census finds that solar and battery energy storage employed over 464,053 workers in 2024, holding steady with its 2023 figure. While federal policy changes in the OBBBA presented challenges to the industry, solar has proven to be one of the most cost-competitive sources of electricity, and is here to stay, the study finds.
IREC reports that the National Solar Jobs Census is based on a survey administered to tens of thousands of energy firms in 2024 and therefore does not reflect impacts of the OBBBA on the solar industry. Which was reported to have led to cancellation of over $6.7 billion in projects in June 2025 alone.
States with notable increases in job numbers occurred in what the report calls “Republican-leaning ‘red’ states: Ohio (5%), Georgia (4.5%), Utah (3.5%), and Texas (3%). See the state-specific solar employment numbers in IREC’s interactive map.
The expansion of battery energy storage was found to contribute to “significant job growth,” increasing 4% in 2024 and 17% in the five-year period between 2019 and 2024.
