California clean-energy jobs: 524,239 workers (2024)

Largest sector in California: Energy Efficiency with 312,090 workers (national rank #1).

Where California’s clean-energy jobs sit across 8 sectors

SectorJobs (2024)National rank
Energy Efficiency 312,090 #1
Solar 116,380 #1
Electric Vehicles 48,965 #1
Storage & Grid 19,309 #1
Hydropower 10,633 #1
Wind 8,384 #3
Clean Fuels 4,373 #1
Nuclear 4,106 #4

Employer-reported hiring difficulty in California

Did not hire
44.0%
Somewhat difficult hiring
31.7%
Very difficult hiring
19.0%
Not at all difficult hiring
5.3%

NAICS industry mix for California clean-energy jobs

Construction
261,790
Professional Services
179,480
Other Services
140,473
Manufacturing
135,925
Trade
114,418
Utilities
78,614
Pipeline Transport & Commodity Flows
18,372
Mining and Extraction
11,089
Agriculture and Forestry
1,334

California’s electric-power generation workforce by fuel type

Solar
116,380
Natural gas electricity
20,091
Traditional hydropower
10,633
Wind
8,384
Bioenergy/Combined heat and power
7,465
Other electricity
4,482
Nuclear electricity
4,106
Coal electricity
1,831
Geothermal electricity
1,737
Low impact hydropower, marine, and hydrokinetics
1,427
Oil and other fossil fuel electricity
980

Full USEER workbook line items for California

Fuels

Fuels total 71,284
Oil (petroleum and other fossil fuels) 49,062
Natural gas fuels 8,437
Other biofuels 4,373
Other fuels 3,556
Woody biomass 2,390
Other ethanol and non-woody biomass 1,600
Corn ethanol 844
Nuclear fuels 806
Coal fuels 217

Electric Power Generation

Electric power generation total 177,515
Solar 116,380
Natural gas electricity 20,091
Traditional hydropower 10,633
Wind 8,384
Bioenergy/Combined heat and power 7,465
Other electricity 4,482
Nuclear electricity 4,106
Coal electricity 1,831
Geothermal electricity 1,737
Low impact hydropower, marine, and hydrokinetics 1,427
Oil and other fossil fuel electricity 980

Transmission, Distribution & Storage

Transmission, distribution, and storage total 151,704
Traditional transmission and distribution 98,184
Other (including commodity flows) 26,628
Storage 19,309
Smart grid 2,912
Other grid modernization 2,450
Micro grid 2,221

Energy Efficiency

Energy efficiency total 312,090
Traditional HVAC with an efficiency component 114,555
Certified and efficient lighting 69,722
High efficiency HVAC and renewable heating and cooling 63,811
Other 38,952
Advanced materials 25,050

Motor Vehicles

Motor vehicle total 228,902
Gasoline and diesel vehicles 151,355
Battery electric vehicles 48,965
Hybrid electric vehicles 15,344
Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles 6,397
Motor vehicle commodity flows 3,130
Hydrogen/fuel cell vehicles 1,935
Natural gas vehicles 1,543
Other vehicles 234

By NAICS Industry

Construction 261,790
Professional Services 179,480
Other Services 140,473
Manufacturing 135,925
Trade 114,418
Utilities 78,614
Pipeline Transport & Commodity Flows 18,372
Mining and Extraction 11,089
Agriculture and Forestry 1,334