Cross-jurisdiction comparison
Solar Panels costs 5.0× more in Los Angeles than in Everett
28,894 permits across 14 jurisdictions. Each bar is the median value declared on the filing.
Reading the spread
Across 14 jurisdictions the middle one files a median of $26,189, and 7 of them land within a quarter of that. The gap in the headline is between Los Angeles and Everett — a difference between cities, not a range to expect inside one.
Within a single city the spread is wider still. Los Angeles runs from $10,000 at the tenth percentile to $116,667 at the ninetieth, 11.7× end to end, while Sacramento is the tightest at 3.5×. That is the number worth carrying into a conversation with a contractor: a quote outside your own city's range is worth asking about, and a quote outside another city's tells you nothing.
14 of these 14 jurisdictions cleared 60 permits, which is the bar this site sets before a city may hold either end of a comparison. The rest are shown because their own page is worth reading, not because they are precise enough to headline.
Full numbers
| City | 10% | Median | 90% | Permits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles, CA | $10,000 | $51,300 | $116,667 | 181 |
| New York, NY | $20,500 | $39,647 | $73,800 | 16,961 |
| Baton Rouge, LA | $8,400 | $33,471 | $62,360 | 88 |
| Marin County, CA | $10,864 | $32,222 | $64,128 | 767 |
| Corona, CA | $11,273 | $32,000 | $60,889 | 586 |
| New Orleans, LA | $10,000 | $27,983 | $61,450 | 1,341 |
| Sacramento, CA | $14,766 | $26,189 | $52,229 | 718 |
| San Francisco, CA | $7,000 | $25,950 | $55,244 | 406 |
| Kansas City, MO | $9,950 | $24,785 | $49,199 | 202 |
| Montgomery County, MD | $10,862 | $24,000 | $48,000 | 3,315 |
| Chicago, IL | $7,695 | $19,535 | $36,000 | 3,655 |
| Detroit, MI | $6,000 | $18,692 | $41,210 | 204 |
| Anaheim, CA | $6,000 | $13,392 | $25,000 | 378 |
| Everett, WA | $5,201 | $10,206 | $38,910 | 92 |
Declared permit values, last 24 months. Updated 2026-09-24. Methodology.