How we calculate

The explorer and city rankings use the same sunrise-to-sunset definition of daylight.

Sunrise and sunset

We use SunCalc with representative coordinates for each city center. Its sunrise and sunset model includes standard atmospheric refraction and the apparent size of the sun. Elevation is set to sea level. Nearby terrain, buildings and changing atmospheric conditions are not modeled, so the times are estimates.

Before and after your selected time

We find the intervals between sunrise and sunset that overlap the selected local calendar day. Sunlight before is the portion of those intervals before your selected time; sunlight after is the portion remaining. We display whole minutes, and the two values add up to the displayed daily total.

For example, if sunrise is at 7 AM, sunset is at 6 PM and you select 5 PM, there are 10 hours before that point and 1 hour after it. Selecting a time before sunrise shows the full day’s daylight still ahead.

Twilight and the illustrated sky

Civil twilight is the period when the sun is below the horizon but no more than 6 degrees below it. It is shown in the sky’s transition colors but excluded from daylight totals. Morning light and evening light indicate low sun during daylight, at up to 6 degrees above the horizon.

The visual sun path and landmark silhouettes are stylized. They are not a compass, a map of shadows, or a forecast of cloud cover.

Time zones and daylight saving

Dates and times are local to the selected city. The timeline represents clock time from midnight to midnight, while calculations use elapsed time. A daylight saving change can make a local day 23 or 25 hours long. Times in a skipped clock-hour advance through the gap.

Polar days and nights

Some cities have periods when the sun does not set or does not rise. We count the daylight that falls within each local day, including daylight that crosses midnight, without double-counting overlapping intervals.

The annual score

We sum elapsed daylight for every local date in a year, then round the total to the nearest hour. One point equals one hour. Equal rounded scores share a rank, and the next rank skips those tied positions. Cities with the same score are listed alphabetically.

Monthly bars show average daily daylight on a shared 0–24 hour scale. Current rankings cover 2025–2028 across 82 city centers. Leap years include an extra day, so compare cities within the same year.

Why the totals are fairly close

Long summer days and short winter days largely offset over a year. The atmosphere and the apparent size of the sun extend the sunrise-to-sunset interval beyond the idealized geometric day; seasonal orbital timing also affects the distribution. Annual daylight is a different measure from cloud-free sunshine or hours of light after work.

Sources

SunCalc supplies the solar calculations. NOAA explains the effects of atmospheric refraction and calculation accuracy.