Solar Panel Tilt Angle Calculator

Use our solar panel tilt angle calculator to find the best angle for your solar panels.

Solar Panel Tilt Angle Calculator

Tip: Also check out our solar panel azimuth direction calculator to find the best direction to face your solar panels.

Best Solar Panel Angle by Zip Code

Here is a list of the best solar panel angles for 50 of the most populated zip codes in the US.

Full list: Best Solar Panel Angle by Zip Code

City	State	Zip Code	Best Year-Round Solar Panel Angle	Best Summer Solar Panel Angle	Best Winter Solar Panel Angle
Anaheim	CA	92804	28.6°	13.6°	43.6°
Antioch	TN	37013	29.7°	14.7°	44.7°
Bell	CA	90201	28.7°	13.7°	43.7°
Bronx	NY	10467	31.9°	16.9°	46.9°
Bronx	NY	10456	31.9°	16.9°	46.9°
Brooklyn	NY	11211	31.8°	16.8°	46.8°
Brooklyn	NY	11208	31.8°	16.8°	46.8°
Brooklyn	NY	11236	31.8°	16.8°	46.8°
Brooklyn	NY	11226	31.8°	16.8°	46.8°
Brooklyn	NY	11234	31.8°	16.8°	46.8°
Brooklyn	NY	11220	31.8°	16.8°	46.8°
Brooklyn	NY	11214	31.8°	16.8°	46.8°
Brooklyn	NY	11207	31.8°	16.8°	46.8°
Brownsville	TX	78521	24.3°	9.3°	39.3°
Chicago	IL	60629	32.3°	17.3°	47.3°
Chicago	IL	60618	32.4°	17.4°	47.4°
Chicago	IL	60632	32.3°	17.3°	47.3°
Chino	CA	91710	28.7°	13.7°	43.7°
Corona	NY	11368	31.9°	16.9°	46.9°
Cypress	TX	77433	26.6°	11.6°	41.6°
El Paso	TX	79936	27.6°	12.6°	42.6°
Elmhurst	NY	11373	31.8°	16.8°	46.8°
Fontana	CA	92335	28.8°	13.8°	43.8°
Fontana	CA	92336	28.8°	13.8°	43.8°
Frisco	TX	75034	28.3°	13.3°	43.3°
Grand Prairie	TX	75052	28.1°	13.1°	43.1°
Hawthorne	CA	90250	28.7°	13.7°	43.7°
Houston	TX	77084	26.5°	11.5°	41.5°
Katy	TX	77449	26.5°	11.5°	41.5°
Katy	TX	77494	26.5°	11.5°	41.5°
Lakewood	NJ	08701	31.6°	16.6°	46.6°
Lawrenceville	GA	30043	28.7°	13.7°	43.7°
Long Beach	CA	90805	28.7°	13.7°	43.7°
Los Angeles	CA	90011	28.7°	13.7°	43.7°
Los Angeles	CA	90044	28.7°	13.7°	43.7°
McKinney	TX	75070	28.3°	13.3°	43.3°
New York City	NY	10025	31.9°	16.9°	46.9°
Norwalk	CA	90650	28.7°	13.7°	43.7°
Pacoima	CA	91331	28.9°	13.9°	43.9°
Pearland	TX	77584	26.4°	11.4°	41.4°
Pflugerville	TX	78660	26.9°	11.9°	41.9°
Pittsburg	CA	94565	30.6°	15.6°	45.6°
Ridgewood	NY	11385	31.8°	16.8°	46.8°
Riverside	CA	92503	28.7°	13.7°	43.7°
San Juan	PR	00926	19.1°	4.1°	34.1°
South Gate	CA	90280	28.7°	13.7°	43.7°
Staten Island	NY	10314	31.8°	16.8°	46.8°
Sugar Land	TX	77479	26.4°	11.4°	41.4°
Sylmar	CA	91342	28.9°	13.9°	43.9°
Westminster	CA	92683	28.6°	13.6°	43.6°

If you don't see your zip code on this list, just enter it into the solar angle calculator at the top of this page to find the ideal tilt angle for your location.

5 Solar Panel Tilt Calculation Methods

Here are 5 different ways to calculate the optimal solar tilt angle for your location:

1. Our Solar Panel Tilt Angle Calculator
2. Simple Rules of Thumb
3. An Excel or Google Sheets Spreadsheet
4. The PVWatts Calculator
5. A Stanford Research Team's Tilt Angle Formulas

Let's run through each way, step-by-step.

1. Our Solar Panel Tilt Angle Calculator

Scroll up to our solar panel angle calculator at the top of this page.

In the box, enter a location such as your address, city, or zip code. I live in Atlanta, GA, so I typed "Atlanta" into the box.

Then select your location from the dropdown results. I selected the top result: "Atlanta, GA, USA".

The calculator will calculate the optimal year-round solar tilt angle (from horizontal) for your location. Mine is 28.6°.

Scroll down and you'll see it also calculates your best tilt angles by season and month. Here are mine:

Alternatively, you can just click "Use Your Current Location".

Then click "Allow" when the site asks to use your location.

The calculator will then use your current location to calculate your optimal solar tilt angle.

That's it!

2. Simple Rules of Thumb

Don't wanna mess with any solar tilt calculations?

Here are 2 simple rules of thumb for finding the best solar panel angle for your location:

Rule of Thumb: Set your solar panel tilt angle equal to your latitude.

Seasonal Adjustments: Subtract 15° in the summer. Add 15° in the winter.

And if you wanted to adjust your solar panels every month, you could just adjust them by 5 degrees each month -- bottoming out in June and maxing out in December in accordance with the summer and winter solstices for the northern hemisphere (or vice versa if you live in the southern hemisphere).

Example

To find my latitude, I went to Google Maps. Then I clicked on the map near my location. (For this example I just clicked in the center of Atlanta.)

Once I did, I saw my location's latitude and longitude coordinates at the bottom of the map. The first number is my latitude.

According to Google Maps, my latitude is 33.7°.

Thus, using these rules of thumb:

My optimal year-round tilt angle: 33.7°

My optimal tilt angles by season:

• Spring: 33.7°
• Summer: 18.7°
• Fall: 33.7°
• Winter: 48.7°

For comparison, when I plug my location into our calculator at the top of this page, I get an ideal year-round tilt angle of 28.6°.

3. An Excel or Google Sheets Spreadsheet

Here's a free spreadsheet for calculating the ideal angle for your solar panels:

How to save your own copy of the spreadsheet

1. Click "Copy the Spreadsheet" above.

2. Click "Make a copy" on the next screen to save a copy of the spreadsheet to your Google Drive. (If you aren't logged in to Google, you will first be asked to log in.)

3. If using Excel, go to File > Download > Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) to download the spreadsheet as an Excel file. Then open it in Excel.

Now that you have your own copy, here's how to use it.

How to use the spreadsheet

1. Enter your latitude. In this example, I just entered mine, 33.7°.

2. Locate your optimal year-round tilt angle. The spreadsheet includes a formula that will automatically calculate the angle based on your latitude.

3. Scroll down to locate your optimal tilt angles by season and by month. These are seasonal and monthly adjustments based on the simple rules of thumb mentioned above.

Note: You do not need to send me a request for editing permission to use this spreadsheet. Just make a copy of it following the instructions above.

4. The PVWatts Calculator

The PVWatts Calculator is a solar energy calculator made by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

I think of it as the gold standard for estimating how much solar energy your system will produce.

How to use PVWatts to find your optimal solar tilt angle

1. Enter your address then click "Go". For this example I've entered the address of Atlanta City Hall.

2. On the Solar Resource Data page, scroll down to the map to confirm that the calculator found the right location. If it did, click "Go to system info". (If it didn't, click "Change Location" and try again.)

3. On the System Info page, experiment with different values in the "Tilt (deg)" field until you find the tilt angle that generates the most electricity. Start by typing in a number, then click "Go to PVWatts results". I entered "29" as my first tilt value.

Tip: Use our solar panel tilt angle calculator at the top of the page to get an angle to use as your starting point in PVWatts. I did this and got 28.6° which I rounded up to 29°.

4. Note the estimated system output. At 29° tilt, this solar power system at my location would generate an estimated 5,809 kWh per year.

5. Go back to the System Info page and edit the tilt number up and down in increments of 1 until you find the tilt angle that generates the most solar energy at your location. After trying many different numbers, I found that 31° and 32° are my year-round optimal tilt angles -- both would generate an estimated 5,814 kWh per year.

Note: There's currently no way for the PVWatts Calculator to just tell you the optimal tilt angle. You'll just have to use trial and error. Also, the calculator does not give you the option to input seasonal or monthly tilt angle adjustments.

H/T to The Solar Nerd whose article taught me this solar tilt calculation method.

5. A Stanford Research Team's Tilt Angle Formulas

Our solar panel tilt calculator is based on a Stanford research paper.

The researchers behind it analyzed optimal solar tilt angles for all countries worldwide using PVWatts. Then, they produced two formulas to calculate the optimal fixed-tilt PV angle for any given location based on latitude.

What are these magical formulas, you ask?

If you live in the northern hemisphere (latitude > 0):

Optimal tilt angle (northern hemisphere) = 1.3793 + Φ(1.2011 + Φ(-0.014404 + Φ0.000080509))

(Φ = latitude)

If you live in the southern hemisphere (latitude < 0):

Optimal tilt angle (southern hemisphere) = -0.41657 + Φ(1.4216 + Φ(0.024051 + Φ0.00021828))

(Φ = latitude)

There you have it:

A simple, research-backed way of calculating the optimal tilt angle of your solar panels.

Note: These are the formulas under the hood of our solar panel angle calculator at the top of the page.

Example

Like I explained above, I used Google Maps to find my latitude.

Doing so, I learned that my latitude is 33.7°.

Because my latitude is greater than 0, I can use the first formula listed above to calculate my best solar panel tilt angle:

My optimal year-round tilt angle = 1.3793 + Φ(1.2011 + Φ(-0.014404 + Φ0.000080509))

Φ = 33.7°

So:

My optimal year-round tilt angle = 1.3793 + (33.7°)(1.2011 + (33.7°)(-0.014404 + (33.7°)0.000080509))

After busting out my calculator (and doing a quick refresher on the order of operations), I get the following:

My optimal year-round tilt angle: 28.6°

(Because our calculator uses these formulas, we got the same answer as our calculator.)

If I want to adjust my solar panels seasonally or monthly, I can add and subtract to this angle based on the rules of thumb described above.

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References

1. Jacobson, M., Jadhav, V., 2018. World estimates of PV optimal tilt angles and ratios of sunlight incident upon tilted and tracked PV panels relative to horizontal panels. Solar Energy, 169, 55–66.