This page publishes what Scout Data’s permit database shows for Cook County: 2,924 residential solar permits in 2025 and 5,646 over the 24 months from September 2024 through August 2026, on 5,399 distinct homes. The state picture is on solar permits in Illinois, the national one on the U.S. solar permit statistics page; the methodology is at the bottom.
- 2025 permits
- 2,924
- Homes with solar
- 2.9%
- Median declared value
- $19,801
- Battery attach, 2025
- 46.8%
Residential solar permits in Cook County by year
Permits filed each full year since 2015, and the number of distinct homes behind them. A single project can carry more than one permit, so homes run below permits.
| Year | Residential solar permits | Homes |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 113 | 99 |
| 2016 | 57 | 53 |
| 2017 | 64 | 62 |
| 2018 | 302 | 301 |
| 2019 | 1,368 | 1,354 |
| 2020 | 1,783 | 1,742 |
| 2021 | 1,696 | 1,675 |
| 2022 | 2,450 | 2,439 |
| 2023 | 2,487 | 2,452 |
| 2024 | 3,406 | 3,261 |
| 2025 | 2,924 | 2,814 |
Tracked permitting in Cook County peaked in 2024 at 3,406 permits. 2025 came in at 2,924, up 18% from 2023. Early years understate activity more than recent ones, because jurisdiction coverage has grown over time; every figure is a floor on true activity.
How many Cook County homes already have solar
Permits measure flow. Aerial imagery measures the stock: 2.9% of Cook County’s single-family homes carry panels. Read the other way, every other single-family home in the county has no panels yet, which is the addressable market a solar sales team is actually working. 676,584 of the county’s 856,894 single-family homes are owner-occupied. The state ranking is on homes with solar by state.
Batteries on Cook County solar permits
Of 2,924 residential solar permits filed in Cook County in 2025, 1,367 record energy storage as part of the job, an attach rate of 46.8%. This is a floor: a permit whose description never mentions storage counts as having none. The national curve is on solar battery attachment rates.
The bankruptcy overhang in Cook County
920 Cook County homes hold a residential solar permit filed under the name of an installer on the Scout Data bankrupt installer list, on or before that company’s petition or closure date. Each is a homeowner with a system, or a half-finished project, and no company behind it: the population the orphaned solar systems opportunity is built on.
Selling to Cook County homes with a permit on file
What a permit record carries and who sells permit data is in solar permit data providers; teams that call rather than knock start from solar call center leads.
More of Illinois
The state totals and the ten busiest counties are on solar permits in Illinois.
Methodology
- Source. Scout Data’s production permit database joined to property records and to an aerial roof classification of single-family homes, matched on the county FIPS code.
- What is counted. Residential permits whose own text names a solar, photovoltaic or PV installation, one row per permit at its latest status. Commercial, agricultural and utility-scale projects are excluded, and so are permits with no usable issue date. Same cohort as the Illinois page, derived later (October 5, 2026), so late-filed permits can make this county read slightly higher than its row in the state’s county table.
- Windows. The year table uses full permit issue years. Home counts, declared values and the share of the state cover September 2024 through August 2026.
- Valuations. Median declared valuation on permits carrying a non-zero value, computed exactly, and shown only where at least 200 permits carry one.
- Rooftop solar. The denominator is single-family homes whose roof has an aerial classification, and the share is published only where enough of the county’s single-family roofs are classified for it to hold.
- Batteries. A 2025 permit counts as recording storage when its text says so, excluding form boilerplate. Shown only where the county filed at least 1,000 permits in the year and its permit text records storage at all.
- Bankrupt installers. Homes with a permit whose installer name starts with a company name, or alias, on the bankrupt installer list, filed on or before that company’s petition or closure date where one is known.
- Coverage. Not every jurisdiction publishes permits and Scout Data does not ingest every one that does. All counts are floors on true activity. Counties with fewer than 1,000 permits in the trailing 24 months do not get a page.
Derived October 5, 2026. If you spot something that looks wrong, tell us; we would rather correct a number than defend it.
Frequently asked questions
How many residential solar permits were issued in Cook County in 2025?
2,924 residential solar permits were issued in Cook County, Illinois in 2025, on 2,814 homes, in Scout Data's permit database. That compares with 2,487 in 2023.
What share of Illinois's solar permits are in Cook County?
About 52%: 5,646 of 10,879 residential solar permits issued in Illinois from September 2024 through August 2026.
What share of Cook County homes have solar panels?
2.9% of Cook County's single-family homes have solar panels visible in aerial imagery. The rest of the county's single-family homes have no panels yet.
How much does a residential solar project cost in Cook County?
The median declared valuation on Cook County residential solar permits issued from September 2024 through August 2026 is $19,801, across 4,405 permits that carried a value. Declared valuations understate contract prices in many jurisdictions, so treat this as a floor rather than a market price.
Can I cite these statistics?
Yes, cite freely with a link to this page. All figures were derived on October 5, 2026 from Scout Data's permit and property databases; the methodology section explains what is and is not counted.