State rankings
Sunniest States in the U.S.
Arizona has the highest Annual Sunlight Percentage (85.0%), followed by Nevada (79.0%) and New Mexico (76.0%). Alaska has the lowest (41.0%).
48 of 51 states
Annual Sunlight Percentage
Darker means higher. Click a place to highlight it.
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All 48 ranked
Highest first.
Distribution Median and middle halfThe median is the middle value: half of places are above it, half below. The middle half is the range holding the central 50% of places.More in the glossary →
Each dot is one state; the lines mark the median and the middle half.
Median
59.0%
Middle half 56.0% – 64.3%
Average
60.0%
48 states
Highest
85.0%
Arizona
Lowest
41.0%
Alaska
Data
Click a column to sort, a row to highlight that place on the charts.
50 states · # = rank by Annual Sunlight Percentage
| # | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Arizona | 85.0% | 3,806 | 193 | 5,755 MJ/m² |
| 2 |  Nevada | 79.0% | 3,646 | 158 | 5,296 MJ/m² |
| 3 |  New Mexico | 76.0% | 3,415 | 167 | 5,642 MJ/m² |
| 4 |  Colorado | 71.0% | 3,204 | 136 | 4,960 MJ/m² |
| 4 |  Hawaii | 71.0% | — | 90 | — |
| 6 |  California | 68.0% | 3,055 | 146 | 5,050 MJ/m² |
| 6 |  Oklahoma | 68.0% | 3,089 | 139 | 4,912 MJ/m² |
| 6 |  Wyoming | 68.0% | 3,073 | 114 | 4,471 MJ/m² |
| 9 |  Florida | 66.0% | 2,927 | 101 | 4,859 MJ/m² |
| 9 |  Georgia | 66.0% | 2,986 | 112 | 4,661 MJ/m² |
| 9 |  Utah | 66.0% | 3,029 | 125 | 4,887 MJ/m² |
| 12 |  Kansas | 65.0% | 2,922 | 128 | 4,890 MJ/m² |
| 13 |  South Carolina | 64.0% | 2,826 | 115 | 4,624 MJ/m² |
| 13 |  Idaho | 64.0% | 2,993 | 120 | 4,251 MJ/m² |
| 15 |  Virginia | 63.0% | 2,829 | 100 | 4,354 MJ/m² |
| 15 |  South Dakota | 63.0% | 2,947 | 104 | 4,332 MJ/m² |
| 17 |  Texas | 61.0% | 2,850 | 135 | 5,137 MJ/m² |
| 17 |  Arkansas | 61.0% | 2,771 | 123 | 4,725 MJ/m² |
| 17 |  Mississippi | 61.0% | 2,720 | 111 | 4,693 MJ/m² |
| 17 |  Nebraska | 61.0% | 2,762 | 117 | 4,685 MJ/m² |
| 21 |  North Carolina | 60.0% | 2,651 | 109 | 4,466 MJ/m² |
| 21 |  Missouri | 60.0% | 2,690 | 115 | 4,545 MJ/m² |
| 23 |  Iowa | 59.0% | 2,691 | 105 | 4,331 MJ/m² |
| 23 |  Montana | 59.0% | 2,698 | 82 | 3,847 MJ/m² |
| 23 |  North Dakota | 59.0% | 2,739 | 93 | 3,925 MJ/m² |
| 26 |  Pennsylvania | 58.0% | 2,614 | 87 | 3,939 MJ/m² |
| 26 |  Massachusetts | 58.0% | 2,634 | 98 | 3,944 MJ/m² |
| 26 |  Minnesota | 58.0% | 2,711 | 95 | 3,968 MJ/m² |
| 26 |  Alabama | 58.0% | 2,641 | 99 | 4,660 MJ/m² |
| 26 |  Rhode Island | 58.0% | 2,606 | 98 | 3,989 MJ/m² |
| 31 |  Maryland | 57.0% | 2,582 | 105 | 4,267 MJ/m² |
| 31 |  Louisiana | 57.0% | 2,649 | 101 | 4,725 MJ/m² |
| 31 |  Maine | 57.0% | 2,513 | 101 | 3,815 MJ/m² |
| 34 |  Illinois | 56.0% | 2,567 | 95 | 4,380 MJ/m² |
| 34 |  New Jersey | 56.0% | 2,499 | 94 | 4,056 MJ/m² |
| 34 |  Tennessee | 56.0% | 2,510 | 102 | 4,486 MJ/m² |
| 34 |  Kentucky | 56.0% | 2,514 | 93 | 4,383 MJ/m² |
| 34 |  Connecticut | 56.0% | 2,585 | 82 | 3,988 MJ/m² |
| 39 |  Indiana | 55.0% | 2,440 | 88 | 4,318 MJ/m² |
| 40 |  Wisconsin | 54.0% | 2,428 | 89 | 4,023 MJ/m² |
| 40 |  New Hampshire | 54.0% | 2,519 | 90 | 3,891 MJ/m² |
| 42 |  Michigan | 51.0% | 2,392 | 71 | 4,018 MJ/m² |
| 43 |  Ohio | 50.0% | 2,183 | 72 | 4,139 MJ/m² |
| 44 |  Vermont | 49.0% | 2,295 | 58 | 3,826 MJ/m² |
| 45 |  Oregon | 48.0% | 2,341 | 68 | 3,830 MJ/m² |
| 46 |  Washington | 47.0% | 2,170 | 58 | 3,467 MJ/m² |
| 47 |  New York | 46.0% | 2,120 | 63 | 3,904 MJ/m² |
| 48 |  Alaska | 41.0% | 2,061 | 61 | — |
| — |  West Virginia | — | — | 60 | 4,146 MJ/m² |
| — |  Delaware | — | — | 97 | 4,232 MJ/m² |
What correlates with Annual Sunlight Percentage?
Pearson r against 2,108 other state metrics sharing at least 29 states. Correlation is not causation.
Higher together
Places that have a higher Annual Sunlight Percentage tend to score higher on these
Opposite directions
Places that have a higher Annual Sunlight Percentage tend to score lower on these
Quick answers
- Which state has the highest Annual Sunlight Percentage?
- Arizona has the highest Annual Sunlight Percentage, at 85.0%, followed by Nevada (79.0%) and New Mexico (76.0%).
- Which state has the lowest Annual Sunlight Percentage?
- Alaska has the lowest Annual Sunlight Percentage, at 41.0%.
- What is the median Annual Sunlight Percentage across US states?
- The median is 59.0% across the 48 US states with data.
- Where does this sunniest states in the u.s. data come from?
- Rankodex compiles it from World Population Review and the primary sources it cites: Average Annual Sunshine by State - Current Results; Sunniest States in the U.S. - Stacker.