Average Annual Sunshine by State

The tables below pull together numbers on the amount of sunshine that each US state usually has in a year. There's information by state on the annual averages for percent, hours and days of sun.

The % Sun number measures the percentage of time between sunrise and sunset that sunshine reaches the ground. Total Hours is the average number of sunny hours a place normally has in a year. Clear Days is the average number of days annually when cloud covers at most 30 percent of the sky during daylight hours.

All of the data are averages based on several decades of weather measurements.

Since so few weather stations measure sunshine, meaningful state-wide averages aren't available. Instead, the tables list a place for each state that represents the state's typical amount of sunshine.

For information on the amount of sunshine at more places in a state, click on the state's name.