How much do solar installers make in Wisconsin in 2026?

The median solar installer in Wisconsin earns $49,770 a year, which works out to roughly $23.93 an hour based on a standard 2,080-hour work year. That number comes from BLS OEWS May 2025 data and reflects what a typical installer with a few years on the job is actually taking home — not a recruiter's best-case pitch.

The bottom quarter of Wisconsin solar installers — those just starting out or working for smaller residential shops — earn at or below $47,880 a year ($23.02/hr). The spread between the 25th and 50th percentile is narrow, only about $1,890 annually, which tells you the lower end of this trade compresses quickly. You don't get a huge pay bump just for surviving your first year. The real jump comes later.

Get to the 75th percentile and the picture changes. Installers at that level earn $65,340 a year, or $31.41 an hour. That's a $15,570 annual difference compared to the median — nearly a 32% premium. Reaching that tier typically means you've picked up electrical skills, moved into a lead or crew-chief role, or shifted to commercial and utility-scale work where job complexity and responsibility push wages up.

Wisconsin's solar market leans heavily residential, especially in the Milwaukee suburbs, Madison, and the Fox Valley corridor. Residential work is steady but tends to pay toward the middle of the range. Commercial and agricultural solar — think large dairy farm installations and municipal projects in rural counties — often pays more because the systems are larger, the electrical work is more complex, and crews are smaller relative to the scope. Installers willing to travel to rural job sites for those projects frequently out-earn their counterparts doing roof-mounted residential jobs in the metro areas.

Seasonality matters here more than in Sun Belt states. Wisconsin winters slow installation activity significantly, especially for roof work. Some employers reduce crew hours from November through February, which can cut annual earnings even if your hourly rate is solid. Installers who cross-train in electrical rough-in, battery storage systems, or EV charger installation tend to keep fuller schedules year-round because those skills transfer to indoor work when roofs are iced over.

No union scale is available for solar installers in Wisconsin. The trade is predominantly non-union statewide, and most installers negotiate wages directly with their employer or through a staffing arrangement. That means your hourly rate is more negotiable than in a trade with a published CBA — and it also means you need to know the market numbers before you walk into a wage conversation. The BLS figures on this page are your baseline.

Wisconsin does not require a specific solar installer license at the state level, but journeyman or master electrician credentials are required for the electrical portions of any installation. Installers who hold or are working toward an electrical license are consistently paid more and are harder for employers to replace. The NABCEP PV Installation Professional certification is recognized by commercial and utility clients and can be a lever to move from median to 75th-percentile pay, particularly with larger regional installers or national EPCs operating in the state.

Overtime and project-end pushes are real in this trade. When a commercial project needs to hit an interconnection deadline or a residential crew is behind on a week's worth of installs, 50- to 55-hour weeks happen. At the median hourly rate of $23.93, a 10-hour overtime week adds roughly $359 in gross pay (time-and-a-half on the 10 extra hours). Installers who work for companies with consistent project pipelines tend to see more of those weeks than those at smaller shops with irregular backlogs.

To move your pay up in Wisconsin solar, the clearest paths are: pursue a NABCEP certification, work toward an electrical license, seek out commercial or utility-scale employers, and position yourself for a lead role where you're responsible for a crew rather than just your own output. Each of those steps has a documented pay effect — the 75th-percentile data above shows where they can take you.