Solar Power Pays Off in These 10 Midwestern Cities

SEATTLE--The Midwestern region of the United States may not seem like an ideal area for solar power, but there are actually quite a few cities within this region where it would be wise to invest in solar panels. Redfin, the next-generation real estate brokerage, teamed up with Sun Number, a U.S. Dept. of Energy SunShot-funded startup that has developed a patented, automated process for analyzing the solar potential of rooftops, to find out which of the largest Midwestern cities have the most solar power potential. The company, which assigns cities a Sun Number based on a scale of 1 to 100, looked at the 10 largest Midwestern cities to find each location's Sun Number. Redfin then looked at those areas to find the price of homes mentioning "solar panels" in their listing description and compared the prices of homes not mentioning solar panels.

"Buying a solar energy system will likely increase your home's value," says the Department of Energy. "A recent study found that solar panels are viewed as upgrades, just like a renovated kitchen or a finished basement, and homebuyers across the country have been willing to pay a premium of about $15,000 for a home with an average-sized solar array. Additionally, there is evidence that homes with solar panels sell faster than those without."

Here is the ranking for the 10 largest U.S. cities in the Midwest region with the highest potential for solar power:

1. Columbus, Ohio
2. Chicago, Illinois
3. Madison, Wisconsin
4. Dayton, Ohio
5. Cincinnati, Ohio
6. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
7. Indianapolis, Indiana
8. Cleveland, Ohio
9. Detroit, Michigan
10. Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota

To read the full report, complete with more information on each city, please click here.

About Redfin

Redfin is the next-generation real estate brokerage, combining its own full-service agents with modern technology to redefine real estate in the consumer's favor. Founded by software engineers, Redfin has the country's #1 brokerage website and offers a host of online tools to consumers, including the Redfin Estimate, the automated home-value estimate with the industry's lowest published error rate. Homebuyers and sellers enjoy a full-service, technology-powered experience from Redfin real estate agents, while saving thousands in commissions. Redfin serves more than 80 major metro areas across the U.S. The company has closed more than $40 billion in home sales through 2016.