Move to One of Top 10 Sunniest Cities in the US

For those looking for a fresh start in a new place, moving to a sunnier spot may give you that extra dose of vitamin D and the boost you need.

The benefits of moderate sun exposure and vitamin D may include improved moods, sleep, bone growth, a more robust immune system, lower blood pressure, and even weight loss.¹ But aside from that, having more sunny days means it’s easier to get outside and have some fun—or at least relax knowing you don’t have to shovel snow.

If you’d rather throw on more sunscreen and fewer layers, but you’re not quite sure where to go, we can help. Using National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) data, we ranked America’s sunniest cities based on the most to least annual clear days.²

For the most sun year-round, Arizona is your best bet, with Yuma, Phoenix, and Tucson taking top spots on the list. But Yuma stands far above the others as the sunniest with 242 days of sunshine—that’s two-thirds of the year lookin’ at clear skies.

You can stay golden in plenty of parts of California. And while beachcombers may want to relocate to Los Angeles, most of California’s sunniest places are further inland, like Bishop, Fresno, Bakersfield, and Sacramento.

Outside of Arizona and California, you won’t be taking much of a gamble on the weather in Las Vegas, Nevada, which has 210 days of sun annually. El Paso, Texas, also spends more than half its time in the sunshine.

Prioritizing the sun isn’t on everyone’s moving checklist, but knowing what kind of weather you’re getting into can undoubtedly affect your decision.

By contrast, you’ll see the least amount of sunshine in Alaska, which takes up six out of the top ten spots on the least sunny cities’ list.

Looking to hang out in Hawaii for retirement? Hilo, Hawaii, receives about three to four times more rain every year than the national average—so you won’t be seeing much sun on the rainy side of the Big Island.³

And it may surprise no one to see Oregon and Washington in the least sunny cities’ list. (Heck, even New Hampshire’s least sunny city is named Washington!). The Pacific Northwest, in particular, has some spectacular sunny days but sees more clouds than the rest of us.

Wondering what life is like in cities that get little sunshine? Check out our gloomiest cities report, which looks at America’s most populous cities and ranks them by cloudy days.

The NOAA table shows the mean number of days per category of cloudiness. The categories are determined for daylight hours only, and include clear, partly cloudy, and cloudy ratings.

We created our ranking based on which cities had the most annual clear days.

1. Forbes, “Why Sunlight Is Actually Good For You,” Feb 28, 2018. Accessed January 8, 2021.
2. NOAA, “Comparative Climatic Data — Cloudiness, Mean Number of Days (Clear, Partly Cloudy, Clear),” Accessed January 8, 2021.
3. Bestplaces.net, “Hilo, Hawaii,” Accessed January 8, 2021.