The Aurora Solar Trust Signal 2026
Interested in solar but have some concerns? You are not alone, and we’re keeping score.
Here’s what homeowners actually think, and what you can do to get the best deal.
How to get the best deal
- 71% of homeowners are at least open to going solar.1
- Trust is the #2 barrier to going solar — second only to cost.1
- Negative experiences with solar pros have trended down across our last three surveys.2
- 80% of homeowners see solar as a viable, sustainable industry.1
- 36% say “trustworthiness of solar companies” is a top concern.1
How to get the best deal
Before you talk to anyone, here’s what the homeowners who feel best about their decision look for — and how to find solar estimates you can trust.
Straight talk on cost
The single biggest trust-builder: a realistic install cost and a clear answer on when savings actually begin. 57% of homeowners say that’s what earns their confidence.2
Cost & benefits explainedProof from real people
When choosing an installer, homeowners look hardest at two things — reviews and testimonials (54%) and technical expertise and certifications (54%).1
Choosing an installer you can trustTransparency
Homeowners say clearer costs, reliable performance data, and more transparency would raise their confidence most.2
Is my house a good fit for solar?Find yourself in the data.
Answer two questions and we’ll show you the data for homeowners like you from our 2026 survey of over 1,000 Americans.
The signal
Solar companies are gaining trust.
On the left, our quarterly Aurora Solar Trust Signal, the share of homeowners who didn’t have a negative experience with a solar professional has positively risen across the last three seasons. Higher is better. On the right, the long-term trust view from the annual Aurora Solar Snapshot: homeowner mistrust spikes in 2024 and improved since. The Aurora Solar Trust Signal is a direction measured the same way each season; the trend is the point.
Aurora Solar Trust Signal (quarterly)
| Wave | Didn’t have a negative experience |
|---|---|
| Aug 2025 | 20.2% |
| Jan 2026 | 29.8% |
| Apr 2026 | 34.6% |
Aurora Solar Snapshot year-over-year mistrust
| Year | Mistrust |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 22% |
| 2024 | 43% |
| 2025 | 41% |
| 2026 | 36% |
Share of all surveyed homeowners who did not report a negative experience with a solar professional, by wave. Aurora Solar Trust Signal: Aurora Solar / Dynata (n ≈ 1,000 per wave). Year-over-year mistrust: Aurora Solar Snapshot / Coleman Parkes & Dynata.
- 1
- Aurora Solar Snapshot 2026 (Coleman Parkes, n = 1,112).
- 2
- Aurora Solar Trust Signal, 3-wave trend (Dynata, n ≈ 1,000 per wave).
"[Utility] costs are rapidly rising, outpacing what consumption is for growing families out here, including ours. We wanted to be a little bit more in control of what we had in terms of our consumption and our footprint. So we decided that it would be a prudent endeavor to go down this [solar + storage] path."
Curious what solar actually looks like for your home?
Get a no-pressure estimateMethodology
How we measure the Aurora Solar Trust Signal.
Two studies power this page.
The Aurora Solar Trust Signal
A quarterly survey of about 1,000 U.S. homeowners, run with Dynata. We ask the same questions each season about homeowners’ real experiences with solar professionals. This is what powers the trend graph and our seasonal blog posts. Because we ask the same way every wave, we can read the direction of change over time — which is the whole point of a “signal.”
The Aurora Solar Snapshot
Our annual industry study, conducted by Coleman Parkes. The 2026 wave surveyed 1,112 U.S. homeowners (fielded February 2026). The Aurora Solar Snapshot powers the “Find Yourself in the Data” tool and the year-over-year context shown alongside the trend.
What we claim — and what we don’t. We report the Aurora Solar Trust Signal as a direction, measured the same way each season, not as a precise absolute rate. Survey questions about personal experience can be answered in more than one way, so we don’t anchor to a single headline percentage as a “true” level. Reported negative experiences declined across our last three waves; we report that trend, not a precise quarter-to-quarter number.
Notes on comparability. Our Spring 2026 wave added an “Other” response option to two questions; the trend holds with or without it. The wording for “not approached by a solar professional” varied slightly across waves. In the tool, figures are unweighted and match our published Aurora Solar Snapshot benchmarks; for small subgroups the tool shows the closest reliable match rather than a number built on only a handful of responses.
Survey dates: Fall 2025, Winter 2026, Spring 2026.
Reporter or analyst? Get the full industry data.
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