California Clean Energy Jobs: 524,239 Workers (2024)
California supports 524,239 clean-energy workers across 8 sectors tracked by the USEER.
1. Employment Landscape — by sector
| Sector | Jobs (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 |
3. Hiring Difficulty & Industry Mix
Employer-reported hiring difficulty and the NAICS industry split for clean-energy jobs in California.
3.1 Hiring difficulty breakdown
Did not hire
44.0%
Somewhat difficult hiring
31.7%
Very difficult hiring
19.0%
Not at all difficult hiring
5.3%
3.2 Jobs by NAICS industry group
| Industry (NAICS group) | Jobs (2024) |
|---|---|
| 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 |
4. Full USEER Metrics for California
Every line-item reported in the public 2025 USEER workbook for California: fuels, electricity generation, transmission/distribution/storage, efficiency, vehicles, and NAICS industry groups.
Fuels
| Sub-category | Jobs (2024) |
|---|---|
| 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
| Sub-category | Jobs (2024) |
|---|---|
| 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
| Sub-category | Jobs (2024) |
|---|---|
| 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
| Sub-category | Jobs (2024) |
|---|---|
| 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
| Sub-category | Jobs (2024) |
|---|---|
| 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
| Sub-category | Jobs (2024) |
|---|---|
| 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 |