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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Solar Photovoltaic Installers Salary: Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY vs Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV

Solar Photovoltaic Installers earn a median of $48,530 in Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY and $66,070 in Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV. That is a nominal gap of $17,540 (-26.5%), with Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV paying more before any cost-of-living adjustment.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2024 estimates. Cost-of-living adjustment uses BEA Regional Price Parities, most recent release.

$48,530
Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY median
$50,634 after COL
$66,070
Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV median
$65,928 after COL
-26.5%
Nominal gap
Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV leads
-23.2%
Adjusted gap
Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV pays $17,540 more per year than Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY for solar photovoltaic installers, a gap of +26.5%.

After adjusting for cost of living, Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV still comes out ahead, with roughly $15,294 of extra purchasing power (+23.2% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

Detailed wage, employment, and cost-of-living figures for solar photovoltaic installers in each location. Click through to the full local salary page for percentiles, outlook, and peer areas.

Solar Photovoltaic Installers

Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY

Median salary
$48,530
Mean salary
$53,420
Employment
70
Location quotient
0.76
Jobs per 1,000
0.1
COL-adjusted median
$50,634
Regional Price Parity
95.8%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Solar Photovoltaic Installers page for Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY →

Solar Photovoltaic Installers

Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV

Median salary
$66,070
Mean salary
$67,110
Employment
100
Location quotient
0.47
Jobs per 1,000
0.1
COL-adjusted median
$65,928
Regional Price Parity
100.2%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Solar Photovoltaic Installers page for Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV →

Related pages

Keep digging into solar photovoltaic installers from a different angle.

Common questions about this comparison

What does the cost-of-living adjustment actually do? +

It divides each location's nominal median wage by its Regional Price Parity (RPP), which measures how local prices compare to the national average (100 = national). A wage of $100,000 in an area with RPP 120 has the same purchasing power as roughly $83,000 nationally.

Why would the nominal and adjusted winners disagree? +

High-cost metros often pay higher salaries, but not by enough to fully offset the higher cost of housing, goods, and services. When that happens, the location with the lower nominal wage actually offers more real purchasing power.

What is a location quotient? +

The location quotient measures how concentrated an occupation is in a given area versus the national average. A value of 2.0 means the occupation is twice as common there as nationally. It is a signal of what a metro specializes in.