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.
Move to One of Top 10 Sunniest Cities in the US
Why you can trust Move.org
movers helped every month
20k
moving grants awarded
24
moving companies evaluated
156
years of expert experience
80+
For over 8 years Move.org experts have examined pricing, credentials, and real customer reviews to give you (human) recommendations you can trust. See how we review.
2 min readThe 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.
Planning on relocating?
Check out our Best Moving Companies of 2024 guide that our moving experts put together after researching professional moving companies across the country to determine the ones that can make your long-distance move the most organized, easy, and stress-free as can be.
The least sunny cities in America
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
America’s 10 least sunny cities
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.
Ready to move?
Data as of post date. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change. Pricing data collected by requesting estimates from top moving container companies for four home sizes across six distances.
*Based on a 3-bedroom across-country move.
Sunniest cities in America
Methodology
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.
Sources
- Forbes, “Why Sunlight Is Actually Good For You,” Feb 28, 2018. Accessed January 8, 2021.
- NOAA, “Comparative Climatic Data — Cloudiness, Mean Number of Days (Clear, Partly Cloudy, Clear),” Accessed January 8, 2021.
- Bestplaces.net, “Hilo, Hawaii,” Accessed January 8, 2021.
