This heat map of U.S. solar jobs shows all the places where the sun is boss

March 28, 2018

If you’re looking for work in the solar sector: go west, young man (or woman, natch). According to the 2017 National Solar Jobs CensusCalifornia has been making good use of its sunshine and has remained far in the lead for the number of solar jobs in 2017 (86,414). That said, solar jobs in the state declined 14% from 2016. If you’re allergic to California, other good options for finding solar jobs are Massachusetts, Utah, Minnesota, Arizona, New Jersey, and New York.

Vermont had the highest number of jobs per capita, followed by Nevada, California, Utah, and Hawaii.

As for the specific cities to find those jobs, the Solar Jobs report has those, too: The San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward metro area had the highest total number of solar jobs, at 24,474 jobs. That’s followed by Provo-Orem, Utah (3,798 total jobs), New York-North New Jersey-Long Island, New York (12,038 jobs); and Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minn. (3,803 jobs).

You can check out the full map here. And if you’re into this sort of thing, the solar foundation released a whopping 52 fact sheets about the state of solar power in the states.

While these numbers are promising, the report is a snapshot of the solar industry before President Trump announced a 30% tariff on most imported solar modules. The tariff will make it way more expensive to tap into renewable energy in the U.S. and could cost jobs in America’s $29 billion solar industry.

 

Fast Company

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