Clean energy and clean vehicle companies employ more than 127,000 Michiganders, topping the pre-COVID-19 record of 124,096 set in 2019. Jobs increased 0 percent (+9) in 2024. Clean energy’s economic role in the region is vital: the industry added jobs almost 4 times faster than Michigan’s overall economy, and more than 6 times as many Michiganders work in clean energy than the number of lawyers, web developers, and real estate agents combined. Job growth is expected to surge in 2025 (+ 8.3 percent). If federal clean energy and clean vehicle incentives were rolled back, the job growth and resurgence of clean energy manufacturing could be at risk.
Energy efficiency comprises well over half of Michigan’s clean energy jobs. These 76,509 Michiganders spend their workdays doing things like manufacturing ENERGY STAR-rated appliances; installing efficient lighting; connecting heat pumps and other highly efficient heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems; and constructing homes and commercial buildings using advanced materials like low-carbon concrete.
Michiganders working in the clean vehicle sector, including electric vehicles (EVs), hybrid EVs, plug-in hybrids, and hydrogen and fuel cell vehicles, registered a 10-percent year-over-year spike, adding 3,210 new jobs for a total of 33,953 workers. Within the clean vehicle sector, EV jobs had the steepest growth rate at +13 percent.
Renewable energy job growth in solar (+5.6 percent) and wind (+1.5 percent) continued across Michigan as did growth in grid & storage sector jobs, driven by emerging subsectors like battery storage (+3.3 percent) and smart grid modernization (+6.9 percent).
The One Big Beautiful Bill aggressively winds down long-standing wind, solar, vehicle, and energy efficiency tax credits, threatening to kill clean energy projects, increase energy costs, and slow the rapid onshoring of domestic clean energy manufacturing. Already, businesses have canceled, closed, and scaled back more than $22 billion* worth of new projects and factories.
To retain some of the clean energy projects that are fueling the economy by creating jobs, keeping energy costs down, and helping meet rising energy demand, policymakers should:
Across all clean energy sectors, the majority of clean energy jobs in Michigan were in construction and manufacturing.
Learn even more about clean energy jobs in the Michigan.
More Jobs DataUnless otherwise stated, data and analyses presented in this report by Evergreen Climate Innovations and E2 (Environmental Entrepreneurs) are based on data collected for the 2024 U.S. Energy Employment Report, produced by the U.S. Dept. of Energy and collected and analyzed by BW Research Partnership.