Solar companies on Google: the 2026 benchmark report
Review counts, ratings, website presence and hours for 32,440 solar companies, computed from public Google listings in 51 states.
Reviews
| Review count | Value |
|---|---|
| Median | 18 |
| Average (mean) | 141.1 |
| 25th percentile | 2 |
| 75th percentile | 86 |
| 90th percentile | 287 |
Share of solar installers by review count:
| Bucket | Share of listings |
|---|---|
| 0 reviews | 17% |
| Under 10 | 40.7% |
| Under 25 | 55.2% |
| 100 or more | 22.7% |
| 500 or more | 6% |
Ratings
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Average rating | 4.59 |
| Rated 5.0 | 38.6% |
| Rated 4.5 or higher | 77.5% |
| Rated under 4.0 | 10.8% |
| No rating yet | 11.5% |
Websites
| Website status | Share |
|---|---|
| Website listed | 86.9% |
| No website listed | 13.1% |
| Own domain | 86.2% |
| Social profile only | 0.5% |
| Free or DIY builder | 0.2% |
Median review count for solar installers with a website: 24. Without one: 2.
Profile completeness and hours
| Profile field | Share |
|---|---|
| Has a profile photo | 96.5% |
| Public email on profile | 24.5% |
| Open 24 hours | 12.1% |
| Open Saturday | 33.3% |
| Open Sunday | 18.9% |
| No hours listed | 24.8% |
Where the listings are
| State | Listings |
|---|---|
| CA | 2,794 |
| TX | 1,742 |
| FL | 1,699 |
| NY | 1,014 |
| OH | 987 |
| NC | 860 |
| NJ | 830 |
| MA | 808 |
| IL | 771 |
| VA | 762 |
| TN | 751 |
| UT | 747 |
Primary categories
| Google category | Listings |
|---|---|
| Solar energy company | 9,004 |
| Electrician | 4,148 |
| Roofing contractor | 3,014 |
| Solar energy system service | 2,244 |
| Solar energy equipment supplier | 2,191 |
| HVAC contractor | 862 |
| Electric utility company | 601 |
| Insulation contractor | 563 |
Read the median first, then the tail
Half of all solar companies on Google have 18 reviews or fewer. That number surprises owners, because solar feels like a mature industry with big national brands. It is not, on the ground. It is 32,440 listings, most of them small, and 17% of them have no reviews at all.
The tail is where the trouble is. The 90th percentile is 287 reviews and 6% of companies have passed 500. Those are the sales organizations and the regional players who install in six states. When a homeowner in your county searches, that is who you are shown next to. The mean of 141.1 is meaningless for planning because those few hundred large operations drag it up past the 75th percentile of 86. Ignore the mean. Use the percentiles.
The number that decides a $21,000 sale
In a low-ticket trade, review count is a tiebreaker. In solar it is the whole trust question. A homeowner is about to sign a 25-year relationship with a company that may or may not exist in five years, in an industry where installers went bankrupt on the evening news. They will read reviews for longer than they read your proposal.
That is why the gap between 2 reviews at the 25th percentile and 287 at the 90th is worth more here than in any other trade on this network. It is also why 55.2% of solar companies sitting under 25 reviews is an opportunity rather than a discouragement. Most of your local competitors have not solved this either.
Ratings do not separate you, and one number does
The average rating is 4.6 stars and 77.5% of solar companies sit at 4.5 or above. 38.6% show a perfect 5.0, which usually means a handful of reviews rather than excellence. A 5.0 with four reviews reads as new. A 4.7 with 180 reads as established, and established is what a homeowner is buying.
The one rating figure that matters is the floor. 10.8% of solar companies are below 4.0 stars, and below 4.0 a homeowner making a five-figure decision simply moves on. If you are there, nothing else in this report matters until you fix it. Another 11.5% carry no rating at all, which on a purchase this size is read the same way as a bad one.
The website gap
13.1% of solar companies list no website on their Google profile. Companies that list one have a median of 24 reviews. Companies that do not have 2. That is a twelvefold difference, the widest gap we have measured in any trade.
We do not claim the site causes the reviews. Companies that run a real business tend to do both. But on a purchase where the buyer wants to verify licensing, warranty terms, equipment brands and financing before they will take a call, no website is close to disqualifying. It is also where AI answer engines and Google both confirm what you install and where.
Hours, photos and the reachability problem
24.8% of solar companies list no hours at all and only 33.3% show Saturday hours. Solar shopping happens on weekends, at the kitchen table, with the utility bill out. A profile that says nothing about Saturday loses to one that says open. 18.9% list Sunday. 96.5% have at least one photo, so having none puts you in the bottom few percent instantly, and 24.5% publish an email address.
What to do with this
- Pull your own numbers. Open your Google Business Profile and write down review count, rating, whether a website is linked, and whether Saturday hours are listed.
- Place yourself honestly. Under 18 reviews is the bottom half. Under 86 is the bottom three quarters. 287 and above is where the companies winning local searches live.
- If you are in the 13.1% with no website, that is week one. Five pages, tap-to-call, financing, warranty and a service area list.
- Start a review process aimed at installed customers, not signed customers. Ask at PTO or first full production month, and ask them to mention system size and what their bill did. Scripts are in the reviews guide.
- Add Saturday hours and turn on missed-call text-back. At a $21,000 average install, run the calculator before you decide this is a small problem.
- Only then buy leads or run ads. Traffic sent to a profile with 2 reviews and no site funds your competitor's education.
Method
This report aggregates 32,440 public Google Business Profile listings collected from Google Maps searches for solar installers across every US state, deduplicated by place. Review counts and ratings are as displayed on the listing at collection time. "Website listed" means the profile links to any URL; we classify the URL as an owned domain, a social profile, or a free site builder by hostname. Figures are refreshed monthly. Cite this page as: Solar Installer Growth, "Solar installers on Google benchmark report", 2026.