LED & Solar recruiters serving Philadelphia.
Solar photovoltaic installers in Philadelphia earn a $58,350 median, 10% above the national figure, and about 580 of them work in the metro. BLS counts 595 business locations of nonresidential electrical contractors across the metro. Below: local pay for every role we staff, the state licensing rules that apply and the nearby markets competing for the same people.
Positions we recruit for in Philadelphia.
BLS counts about 11,650 people working in the occupations behind these roles across the Philadelphia metro, the largest group being electricians (about 10,090). Relative to the size of the local economy, solar photovoltaic installers are about as concentrated here as nationally (location quotient 0.98). Local headcount and pay for each role are below; role descriptions are on the LED & Solar hub.
Solar PV Installer
Philadelphia: 580 employed · $58,350 median, 18th-highest of 39 metros
NABCEP-Certified Solar Technician
Commercial LED Retrofit Electrician
Philadelphia: 10,090 employed · $74,590 median, 31st-highest of 112 metros
Solar Electrician
Solar Project Manager
O*NET 47-1011.03 - Solar Energy Installation Managers, a Bright Outlook occupation; wage data rolls up to the parent 47-1011 group
Solar Estimator/Designer
Philadelphia: 4,190 employed · $79,880 median, 39th-highest of 111 metros
Energy Auditor/Efficiency Consultant
O*NET 47-4011.01 - Energy Auditors; building energy assessments that often lead into LED retrofit and solar scoping
Solar O&M Technician
Electrical Foreman (LED/Solar specialty)
Philadelphia: 10,700 employed · $95,840 median, 16th-highest of 112 metros
Low-Voltage/Controls Technician
Philadelphia: 980 employed · $76,320 median, 39th-highest of 107 metros
What LED & Solar roles earn in Philadelphia.
Solar photovoltaic installers in Philadelphia earn a median $58,350, 10% over the $53,140 national figure, and 18th of 39 metros. Pay runs $50,350 at the tenth percentile to $88,610 at the ninetieth. The best-paid role below is electrical and electronics repairers, commercial and industrial equipment, at $76,320 against $74,090 nationally.
| Role | Philadelphia median | Typical range | National median | vs. national | Employed locally |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solar PV Installer · NABCEP-Certified Solar Technician · Energy Auditor/Efficiency Consultant O*NET 47-4011.01 - Energy Auditors; building energy assessments that often lead into LED retrofit and solar scoping Solar O&M TechnicianSolar Photovoltaic Installers (47-2231) | $58,350 | $50,350–$88,610 | $53,140 | +10% | 580 |
| Commercial LED Retrofit Electrician · Solar ElectricianElectricians (47-2111) | $74,590 | $46,980–$132,610 | $63,190 | +18% | 10,090 |
| Solar Project Manager O*NET 47-1011.03 - Solar Energy Installation Managers, a Bright Outlook occupation; wage data rolls up to the parent 47-1011 group Solar Estimator/DesignerCost Estimators (13-1051) | $79,880 | $55,190–$131,320 | $78,740 | +1% | 4,190 |
| Electrical Foreman (LED/Solar specialty)First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers (47-1011) | $95,840 | $62,620–$151,490 | $79,920 | +20% | 10,700 |
| Low-Voltage/Controls TechnicianElectrical and Electronics Repairers, Commercial and Industrial Equipment (49-2094) | $76,320 | $47,260–$105,700 | $74,090 | +3% | 980 |
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, Philadelphia metro. Range is 10th to 90th percentile; management and office roles are metro-wide. A metro ranking counts only the metros where BLS publishes that occupation.
How Philadelphia's LED & solar market has changed since 2018.
Philadelphia lost nonresidential electrical contractors between 2018 and 2023, from 601 business locations to 595 (down 1%), behind the 6% growth nationally. Headcount and pay for those firms are withheld in Philadelphia, so the occupation figures above are the better guide to what hiring costs.
| Measure | 2018 | 2023 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nonresidential electrical contractors: business locations | 601 | 595 | −1% |
BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, private employers, annual averages. A dash means BLS did not publish the figure.
Free LED & Solar hiring resources.
Definitive Guide to LED & Solar · 2026 LED & Solar Salary Guide · 3-Step Interview Guide for LED & Solar
Philadelphia sits at about the national rate for LED and solar — neither unusually deep nor unusually thin.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, Solar Photovoltaic Installers (nearest published occupation for this trade). Metro-wide figures for the base occupation; the wage table above is role-specific and commercial.
How Philadelphia's LED and solar market compares
Among the 37 metros we cover with published BLS figures, Philadelphia ranks 10th for headcount, 16th for median pay and 25th for concentration for solar photovoltaic installers.
| Metro | Employed | Median pay | Concentration | Commercial employers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia | 580 | $58,350 | 0.98 | 595 |
| Lancaster | 90 | $49,950 | 1.83 | 61 |
| Pittsburgh | – | – | – | 245 |
| Allentown-Bethlehem | – | – | – | 54 |
| Harrisburg | – | – | – | 47 |
| Scranton | – | – | – | 58 |
BLS OEWS occupation figures and QCEW business-location counts; a dash means not published.
What this means for hiring:For LED and solar employers in Philadelphia, the pool is about the national norm for its size, so difficulty depends on the role more than the market.
Sources: BLS QCEW 2023 annual averages and BLS OEWS May 2025, Philadelphia metro. Employers are counted by business location.
LED & Solar licensing in Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania does not license electricians or electrical contractors at state level. The Department of Labor and Industry states that the Commonwealth has no licensure or certification requirements for most construction contractors or their employees, and that individual municipalities set their own electrical and plumbing licensing rules. The only statewide registration is Home Improvement Contractor registration with the Office of Attorney General, a consumer protection registration for residential work rather than a trade competency license, and there is no separate state solar contractor license. For commercial solar and lighting retrofit work, verify the Philadelphia electrical contractor license, the Pittsburgh electrical trade license, and then the requirements of whichever municipality the job sits in. The same state rules apply in Pittsburgh, Allentown-Bethlehem, Harrisburg, Lancaster and Scranton, so candidates licensed there can work in Philadelphia without re-qualifying. The Philadelphia metro crosses a state line, so check the rules in the neighboring state too for crews that work on both sides.
Licensing authority: Licensed at municipal level: Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections, Pittsburgh Department of Permits, Licenses and Inspections. Confirm current rules with the agency.
We have not closed an LED & solar search in Philadelphia yet. Here is what we have closed.
These are other trades in the same market. We would rather show you the searches we have actually run in Philadelphia than imply a record in this trade that we do not have yet.
- HVAC Service TechnicianA residential service technician for the King of Prussia and Philadelphia territory, coordinated around his relocation.
- Residential HVAC Service TechnicianFive days, and the technician brings test-and-balance expertise on top of service.
- Senior HVAC Service TechnicianA technician comfortable with whatever a building throws at him, not only the HVAC.
Nearby markets competing for Philadelphia talent.
The closest metro we cover is Allentown-Bethlehem, about 50 miles away. New York pays the most nearby, a $70,130 median, 20% above Philadelphia. That is the number any Philadelphia offer is competing with when experienced people weigh a move. New York has the deepest pool within reach, so a search for senior roles here usually extends there.
| Metro | Distance | Employed | Median pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia | – | 580 | $58,350 |
| Allentown-Bethlehem | 48 mi | – | – |
| Lancaster | 61 mi | 90 | $49,950 |
| New York | 81 mi | 2,190 | $70,130 |
| Baltimore | 90 mi | 490 | $45,220 |
| Harrisburg | 94 mi | – | – |
BLS OEWS, May 2025; straight-line miles.
What else is competing for Philadelphia crews.
Not LED & solar work. These are the capital projects big enough to pull the same crews into Philadelphia in the months you are trying to fill a seat, each with the status its own market page reports.
- CHOP Roberts Children's Health Tower$2.59BOpening late 2028
CHOP's active tower expansion is the real current driver of hospital-grade mechanical demand - medical gas, isolation rooms, and OR HVAC in tight supply. (Penn Medicine's Pavilion, sometimes bundled into this figure, is a separate, already-completed $1.6B project from 2021 - kept out of this total since it's no longer an active build.)
- University expansion (UPenn, Drexel, Temple)$2B+ aggregatedThrough 2028
Research lab construction (fume hood air, specialty exhaust). Student housing + academic building expansion.
- Schuylkill Yards mixed-use (UPenn-adjacent)$3.5B plannedPhased through 2035
Major commercial + life sciences development. Long-duration construction pipeline.
Showing 3 of 5 projects tracked in this metro. The Philadelphia market page lists them all.
What credentials matter for LED & solar, and what kills offers in Philadelphia.
The 4 credentials that gate the work and the 4 things that most often end an LED & solar offer are the same in every market, kept in one place: LED & Solar credentials and offer risks, each linked to the body that issues it. What is local is the licensing rule above and the pay further up this page.
Frequently asked - LED & Solar hiring in Philadelphia.
What do solar photovoltaic installers earn in Philadelphia?
BLS puts the Philadelphia median for solar photovoltaic installers at $58,350 a year, 10% above the $53,140 national median. That ranks 18th of 39 metros with published figures, in the middle of the pack. Most of the market sits between $50,350 and $88,610, a 1.8x gap and a moderate spread, so a few thousand dollars over the median buys real experience. No other Pennsylvania metro we cover pays more for this work (Lancaster: $49,950).
Is it hard to hire solar photovoltaic installers in Philadelphia?
It is about average. Solar photovoltaic installers are as common in Philadelphia as they are nationally (location quotient 0.98), with about 580 in the metro.
Which LED & solar roles pay the most in Philadelphia?
Of the roles we recruit for, Electrical Foreman (LED/Solar specialty) pays the most in Philadelphia, a $95,840 median (BLS measures that occupation across all industries in the metro). Among field roles the top earner is Low-Voltage/Controls Technician at $76,320, 20% below it. Solar PV Installer is the lowest-paid field role at $58,350. Relative to national pay, Electrical Foreman (LED/Solar specialty) is the strongest-paying role here (20% above).
How many nonresidential electrical contractors operate in Philadelphia?
BLS counted 595 nonresidential electrical contractors in Philadelphia in 2023. That is roughly where the count stood in 2018 (601). BLS withholds their combined headcount and pay here, which it does when a category is small enough that the figures could identify individual employers. BLS counts commercial solar and LED retrofit firms under nonresidential electrical contractors.
Which nearby metros compete with Philadelphia for solar photovoltaic installers?
The closest metros we cover with published figures are Lancaster (61 miles, about 90, $49,950 median), New York (81 miles, about 2,190, $70,130 median) and Baltimore (90 miles, about 490, $45,220 median). New York has the larger pool, so it is the first place to look for senior people willing to move. New York pays 20% more, which is where Philadelphia employers tend to lose people.
The seat is open. The pipeline should not be.
595 nonresidential electrical contractors in Philadelphia are drawing on the same 580 solar photovoltaic installers. Let's get your next hire lined up first.
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