Computed from 8,816 recent building-permit filings in New York, NY — what people actually declared, not survey guesses.
✓ Verified from 8,816 recent building-permit filings in New York, NY
Every filing behind this range declared a residential renovation cost between $1,000 and $2,000,000 — outliers and commercial-scale projects are excluded. We only publish a range once at least 30 qualifying filings exist for a city/project combination; this one has 8,816.
Data refreshed September 2026
The short answer: a typical solar installation in New York costs around $38,950, with half of all projects landing between $27,318 and $53,378. If a quote falls well outside that range, it isn't automatically wrong — but it deserves an explanation you can understand.
A large share of NYC housing is in co-ops and condos, which often require board approval on top of DOB permitting — an extra layer of process that doesn't exist for most single-family projects elsewhere.
Building density and limited street/curb access for equipment and material delivery are a bigger cost factor in NYC than in lower-density cities.
The middle half of the published sample spans $27,318 to $53,378. That is a 67% spread around the median, so the details of your scope matter more than the label on the project.
Solar installation usually covers panels, inverters, mounting, wiring, and grid connection work; battery storage is a separate major choice.
Roof replacement, structural reinforcement, service upgrades, batteries, and monitoring subscriptions may sit outside the basic panel scope.
This guide is based on 8,816 qualifying permit filings, not completed projects. Permit values reflect what applicants declared and can differ from the final paid cost.
Compare proposals from vetted professionals in your area. Free, no-obligation quotes.
We may earn a commission if you make a purchase through these links. This helps us keep CostFiled free and independent.
Every figure on this page is computed from declared valuations on building permits filed with the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB), published via DOB NOW, NYC's digital permitting system. We report the 25th percentile, median and 75th percentile of 8,816 recent residential filings — never a single-point "average". Declared values are what applicants file, not final invoices, so treat the range as planning guidance rather than a quote. Full methodology →
The source dataset is maintained by the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB). The published sample is the subset classified as residential, matched to this project type, and carrying a declared valuation from $1,000 to $2,000,000. The count above is the number of qualifying filings used for this city and project, not the number of homes or completed invoices.
Open DOB NOW, NYC's digital permitting system datasetBased on 8,816 recent building-permit filings with the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB), the median declared cost is $38,950. Half of all projects fall between $27,318 and $53,378.
No. Permit valuations are what applicants declare to the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) when filing, not final invoices — and the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) doesn't independently verify the declared value. Treat the range as planning guidance and a sanity-check against the quotes you receive, not a price to hold a contractor to.
A large share of NYC housing is in co-ops and condos, which often require board approval on top of DOB permitting — an extra layer of process that doesn't exist for most single-family projects elsewhere. That local variation is on top of the usual differences in size and specification, which is why we publish the 25th percentile, median and 75th percentile instead of a single misleading "average" — you can see where a quote sits in the real distribution.
Planning something else, or somewhere else? Request a city or project — requests decide what we ingest next.