Yuma, Arizona tops the list of places in United States with the most sun. Generally it's sunny in Yuma for 90% of the time from sunrise to sunset.
In fact, with its typical 4300 sunny hours a year, Yuma achieves the world record for most recorded annual average sunshine.
Besides holding the highest annual total, Yuma gets more sunshine in each month, except for July, August and September, than any other US location.
The least brightest month there is December, when the sun still shines during 82% of daylight hours. That's a lot more than most places get in any month of the year. During the summer months, Redding, Fresno and Sacramento take over as the sunniest spots in the country.
The largest proportion of sun any place in the US averages for a month is 97% . Yuma reaches that mark in June, Fresno and Sacramento in July, and Redding in both July and August.
| City | % Sunshine |
|---|---|
| Yuma, Arizona | 90 |
| Redding California | 88 |
| Phoenix, Arizona | 85 |
| Tucson, Arizona | 85 |
| Las Vegas, Nevada | 85 |
| El Paso, Texas | 84 |
| Fresno, California | 79 |
| Reno, Nevada | 79 |
| Flagstaff, Arizona | 78 |
| Sacramento, California | 78 |
| Pueblo, Colorado | 76 |
| Key West, Florida | 76 |
| Albuquerque, New Mexico | 76 |
St. Petersburg, Florida gained the world record for the most sunny days in a row when the sun beamed down for 768 consecutive days from February 9, 1967 to March 17, 1969.
In a typical year though, Yuma stands well above any other US place for the number of mostly clear days, averaging 242 days annually. Phoenix comes in a distant second with 211 days per year when clouds cover less than a third of the sky.
Clear days most commonly occur during July in central California, where Fresno, Sacramento and Stockton all average 27 mainly cloud-free days for the month.
| Location | Clear Days |
|---|---|
| Yuma, Arizona | 242 |
| Phoenix, Arizona | 211 |
| Las Vegas, Nevada | 210 |
| Bishop, California | 201 |
| Fresno, California | 194 |
| Tucson, Arizona | 193 |
| El Paso, Texas | 193 |
| Bakersfield, California | 191 |
| Sacramento, California | 188 |
| Los Angeles, California | 186 |
| Stockton, California | 184 |
| Winslow, Arizona | 177 |
| Santa Maria, California | 176 |