Sunshine hours: the sunniest cities in the world, month by month

How many hours of sunshine does your city get? Measured sunshine duration for nearly 3,000 cities, month by month – with a ranking of the sunniest and cloudiest cities.

• Measured sunshine duration from over 2,300 weather stations – for your city, month by month.
• One city per weather station, cities of 100,000+, 1991–2020 averages – for the US 1961–1990 and for Canada 1981–2010, the latest there are.

The sunniest large cities: United States

• 1. Phoenix: 3,873 h a year
• 2. Las Vegas: 3,826 h a year
• 3. Tucson: 3,806 h a year
• 4. Reno: 3,647 h a year
• 5. Sacramento: 3,609 h a year
• 6. Fresno: 3,565 h a year
• 7. Chico: 3,542 h a year
• 8. Colorado Springs: 3,463 h a year
• 9. Albuquerque: 3,414 h a year
• 10. Amarillo: 3,298 h a year

The cloudiest large cities: United States

• 1. Pittsburgh: 1,972 h a year
• 2. Anchorage: 2,063 h a year
• 3. Syracuse: 2,120 h a year
• 4. Seattle: 2,170 h a year
• 5. Columbus: 2,182 h a year
• 6. Grand Rapids: 2,188 h a year
• 7. Buffalo: 2,206 h a year
• 8. Meads: 2,259 h a year
• 9. Cleveland: 2,281 h a year
• 10. Rochester: 2,299 h a year

The sunniest large cities in the world

• 1. Mexicali: 4,017 h a year
• 2. Phoenix: 3,873 h a year
• 3. Las Vegas: 3,826 h a year
• 4. Tucson: 3,806 h a year
• 5. Ciudad Juárez: 3,763 h a year
• 6. Reno: 3,647 h a year
• 7. Dubai: 3,610 h a year
• 8. Sacramento: 3,609 h a year
• 9. Victoria de Durango: 3,573 h a year
• 10. Fresno: 3,565 h a year

The cloudiest large cities in the world

• 1. Chengdu: 962 h a year
• 2. Chongqing: 985 h a year
• 3. Sukabumi: 1,082 h a year
• 4. Glasgow: 1,153 h a year
• 5. Tanjung Pinang: 1,172 h a year
• 6. Medan: 1,201 h a year
• 7. Samarinda: 1,275 h a year
• 8. Sungai Penuh: 1,311 h a year
• 9. Limerick: 1,339 h a year
• 10. Huaihua: 1,352 h a year

Questions about sunshine hours

• Which large city in the US gets the most sunshine? On 1961–1990 averages, the latest there are for the US, Phoenix leads with 3,873 hours a year. The least sun among the large cities goes to Pittsburgh with 1,972 hours.
• What is the sunniest large city in the world? Among the cities with measurements, Mexicali leads with 4,017 hours of sunshine a year – about ten hours every day.
• What counts as an hour of sunshine? In meteorology the sun is shining once its direct radiation exceeds 120 watts per square metre. Weather stations measure it with sunshine recorders or pyranometers.

• Data: Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD), sunshine duration climate normals 1991–2020, CC BY 4.0. Possible hours: time between sunrise and sunset.