This is how long the sun shines in the United States of America! Up to 15:10 hours of daylight a day. (2024)

Average length of day in New York City

The following graph shows the times of sunrise and sunset over the course of the year. The duration of twilight can be seen at the top and bottom edges. The vertical offset between March and November shows the effect of daylight saving time, when the time is set one hour ahead.

Sunrise and sunset in the most important cities of United States of America

The cities are ordered by their geographic position from east to west, so in an approximate direction of the sun's course. Since the orbit around the sun is elliptical, sunrise or sunset never happen on a whole longitude at the same time. All data given for November 29th., localtime in the United States of America

The USA is a country with an enormous extension - from west to east as well as from north to south. Therefore, there are also significant differences in all four directions.

Day length varies from north to south

The farther a city is from the equator, the more different the day lengths are between summer and winter. This is due to the inclination of the earth's axis of about 23.5 degrees. As a result, in summer in the northern hemisphere, the north pole is more inclined to the sun, resulting in additional daylight hours. In winter, on the other hand, the north pole is more tilted away from the sun, making the days shorter. So, high in the north on the Canadian border or even in Alaska, the daylight hours are more pronounced. For example, on a summer day in northern Minnesota, the sun shines for over 16 hours. In winter, on the other hand, only 8 hours. In Miami (Florida), the seasons are the same, but the length of the day in summer is almost 140 minutes shorter; instead, the winter days here are a good 2 hours longer.

Where does the sun rise in the US?

Not the length of the days, but the times of the beginning of the day depend on the longitude. The sun always rises in the east (yes, always, regardless of northern or southern hemisphere) and therefore the day starts earlier in the eastern states than in the western ones. There is a full 4 hours between sunrise in New York and sunrise in Los Angeles. In Hawaii, the day starts another 2:15 hours later. To compensate for this, time zones are used to divide the U.S. into six different zones.

Sunrise and sunset by month for New York City

Duration of the sunset

The distance from the equator and the path of the sun determines not only the time of sunrise and sunset. The farther a country is from the equator, the more oblique the sun's path is to the horizon, causing sunset to last for a different duration. New York City lies on the 41st degree of northern latitude and is therefore very far away from the equator. While a sunset near the equator lasts only about 20 minutes, in the United States of America, this period averages 35 minutes. In June, it's about 37 minutes in New York City, while in December it's 32 minutes.

The sun always shines from the south

The capital New York City is located at 41 degrees north latitude and therefore also north of the Tropic. While the sun swings back and forth between the northern and southern tropics throughout the year, it shines on New York City from the south, but is never perpendicular to it. In December, the sun is so far away that even at midday it can only be seen 26 degrees above the horizon. (0 degrees is at the height of the horizon, 90 degrees would be a position directly above New York City.) It reaches its highest point at its zenith, i.e. at midday on June 21st. Then the sun shines down at an angle of 72.7 degrees.

Actual hours of sunshine

The period from sunrise to sunset is the astronomical length of the day. It is therefore independent of whether you can actually see the sun. In addition, significant deviations can be perceived depending on cloud cover or other visual obstructions. For the New York City resp. Washington, D.C. region, we have shown the approximate sunshine duration in the graph here.

International cities for comparison