These Maps Reveal the Top Solar-Powered U.S Cities

It is no surprise that sunny California leads the nation as the nation ramps up solar power. The state holds nearly all of the slots on the nation’s Top 100 cities with solar power, according to a report by Cape Analytics. But interest as a whole is growing with solar power expected to grow three times by 2025 and potentially provide up to 39% of the nations energy.

There’s now 40 times as much solar power generation in the U.S. as there was a decade ago—enough, by last year, to power more than nine million homes. Most of this is on large solar farms, but nearly a third is on rooftops. A new report takes a look at where solar panels are most common on roofs, using AI to analyze aerial photos of cities.

Cape Analytics, a company that uses machine learning to analyze geospatial data for insurance companies, scanned 38 million properties in 21 large metropolitan areas. The San Diego area, by far, has the most solar panels per capita, with around 10% of homes generating solar power. In a neighborhood called La Costa Ridge in the nearby city of Carlsbad, nearly a third of houses have solar on the roof.

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