• Over 3.52 million Americans work in renewable energy, energy efficiency, clean vehicles and other clean economy sectors.

  • Nearly 37,000 jobs lost in 2025 as energy efficiency, renewable generation and clean vehicles contracted; storage and grid modernization and biofuels grew.

  • Decline comes amid rising energy demand and costs.

WASHINGTON —  Clean energy employment in the United States fell by nearly 37,000 jobs in 2025, the industry’s first annual decline after four consecutive years of growth, according to the 11th annual Clean Jobs America report released today by the national, nonpartisan business group E2. Clean energy businesses employed 3.52 million Americans by the end of 2025, down by one percent from a year earlier, as losses in energy efficiency, renewable generation, and clean vehicles outweighed gains in storage and grid modernization, and biofuels.

The job losses in solar, wind, electric vehicles and other industries indicate that the Trump administration’s attempts to stop or curtail clean energy projects in America is taking a toll on the workforce. Since President Trump took office in January 2025, more than 250 clean energy projects have been canceled or downsized, according to separate E2 research.

The decline comes amid rising energy demand and costs, and a growing need for more cheap, clean, fast-to-deploy power. U.S. electricity demand hit a record high in 2025, and prices rose about 7 percent nationwide, according to government data.

“Policy matters,” said Bob Keefe, E2 executive director. “It turns out when the federal government cancels clean energy power projects, stalls permitting and kills programs intended to get more clean, cheap energy and electric vehicles on the market, workers pay and our economy suffers.

“It’s time to get clean energy back on track in America. That starts with predictable policies, sustained investment, and giving businesses the certainty they need to plan, build, and hire.”

E2’s annual Clean Jobs America reports have tracked U.S. clean energy job growth since 2015. BW Research Partnership conducted the latest data analysis, based on the U.S. Department of Energy’s U.S. Energy Employment Report (USEER), which E2 helped create and which tracks employment across all energy related occupations. BW Research also collected and analyzed the data used in the USEER.

Despite the first net job losses since the pandemic-fueled unemployment crisis, clean energy employment remained substantially above 2020 levels. Over the past five years, clean energy and clean vehicle companies added approximately 486,000 jobs, growing 16 percent — faster than total U.S. employment, which grew 11.4 percent. During the five-year period, all energy employment rose about 11 percent, and fossil fuel extraction, processing, and electric generation at 8.6 percent.

Clean energy now accounts for about 42 percent of all energy jobs and supports more than three times as many jobs as fossil fuel extraction, processing, and electric generation combined. Together about 1.06 million Americans work in fossil fuels, down 2.4 percent from 2024. That decline was double the pace of job declines in clean energy.

“Clean energy job losses are more than a setback; they represent a concerning reversal,” said Michael Timberlake, E2 director of research. “While employment remains above 2020 levels, this decline signals a loss of momentum for an industry that has consistently outpaced the growth of the U.S. economy and fossil fuel sectors.”

Energy efficiency remained the largest clean energy sector, supporting 2.36 million jobs, or roughly two-thirds of the entire workforce. It also recorded the largest absolute loss, shedding approximately 21,440 jobs.  Renewable generation lost about 11,580 jobs, driven primarily by declines in solar and wind, while clean vehicles lost approximately 9,620 jobs in a second consecutive year of contraction.

There were notable gains in some areas. High-efficiency HVAC and renewable heating and cooling added approximately 9,480 jobs despite the broader efficiency downturn. Storage and grid modernization grew 3 percent — the fastest rate among the five major clean energy sectors — with smart grid employment increasing 17 percent. Biofuels employment also edged up, albeit by less than a percentage point.

Construction and manufacturing accounted for roughly three in five clean energy jobs nationwide in 2025, underscoring the industry’s importance to workers building, installing, and producing energy technologies. Construction accounted for approximately 1.3 million efficiency jobs, or 54 percent of the sector. Manufacturers employed about 343,840 workers.

California, Texas, Florida, and New York remained the nation’s largest clean energy employers at the end of 2025, together supporting approximately 1.2 million jobs—about one-third of the national clean energy workforce. Illinois, Michigan, Massachusetts, Ohio, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania rounded out the top 10, reflecting the industry’s reach across regions.

Sixteen states added clean energy jobs, gaining approximately 8,760 positions combined. Florida led with about 3,800 new jobs—more than four times the gains of any other state—and expanded its workforce by about 2 percent. Georgia, Iowa, New Mexico, and Idaho rounded out the states with the largest job gains.

Methodology

The analysis is based on employment data collected and analyzed by the BW Research Partnership for the 2026 U.S. Energy and Employment Report (USEER). The USEER analyzes data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) to track employment across many energy production, transmission and distribution subsectors.

In addition, the 2026 USEER relies on a unique supplemental survey of 41,800 business representatives across the United States. Created and conducted by BW Research, the methodology has been approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). This survey is used to identify energy-related employment within key subsectors of the broader industries as classified by the BLS and to assign them into their component energy and energy efficiency sectors.

For more information, data requests, or to speak with researchers who produced the analysis, please contact Michael Timberlake ([email protected], 202-289-2407).

Other Resources

Clean Jobs America 2026 Maps: cleanjobsamerica.e2.org/

Clean Economy Works | IRA Two-Year Economic Impact Analysis: According to this modeling, if completed the projects announced in the first two years of the IRA will create 621,000 direct and indirect new jobs – including 154,000 permanent jobs— throughout the economy over the next five years. This would add $237.5 billion to U.S. GDP; create $169.4 billion in new wages for workers and generate nearly $50 billion in new tax revenue for federal, state, and local governments.

Clean Economy Works | Monthly Tracking: More details plus an interactive map of each of these projects shows what’s trending in America’s booming clean economy.

Previous Clean Jobs America Reports: