US Counties With the Highest Daily Sunlight
3,144 US counties ranked by daily sunlight, from highest to lowest. First are Yuma County, AZ (5.97), El Paso County, TX (5.92) and Imperial County, CA (5.91). The middle one of the 3,144 has 4.36.
What this measures
The average amount of sunlight reaching the ground each day over the year, in kilowatt-hours per square metre. NASA estimates it from weather satellites: the satellites see the clouds, and a model of the air works out how much sunlight gets through them. The figures are for squares of land about 60 miles across, so nearby counties often share a value. Each county gets the square where its people live, around its center of population. Years before 2001 come from older satellites, which NASA adjusted to match the newer ones. Source: NASA POWER (Prediction Of Worldwide Energy Resources).
For most measures, a national ranking mostly sorts places by income and by how urban they are. Each county’s own page compares it with the 50 counties most like it instead, which is often the fairer view.
The 100 highest counties
Every state, highest first
Each state’s own published figure, not an average of its counties.
| Rank | State | kWh/m² per day |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arizona | 5.81 |
| 2 | Hawaii | 5.69 |
| 3 | New Mexico | 5.54 |
| 4 | Nevada | 5.3 |
| 5 | California | 5.13 |
| 6 | Florida | 5.03 |
| 7 | Texas | 4.89 |
| 8 | Colorado | 4.87 |
| 9 | Louisiana | 4.77 |
| 10 | Utah | 4.76 |
| 11 | Oklahoma | 4.71 |
| 12 | Mississippi | 4.67 |
| 13 | Alabama | 4.62 |
| 14 | South Carolina | 4.6 |
| 15 | Kansas | 4.57 |
| 16 | Wyoming | 4.57 |
| 17 | Georgia | 4.56 |
| 18 | Arkansas | 4.53 |
| 19 | North Carolina | 4.46 |
| 20 | Missouri | 4.39 |
| 21 | Nebraska | 4.37 |
| 22 | Tennessee | 4.36 |
| 23 | Idaho | 4.29 |
| 24 | Virginia | 4.25 |
| 25 | South Dakota | 4.24 |
| 26 | District of Columbia | 4.19 |
| 27 | Maryland | 4.19 |
| 28 | Kentucky | 4.18 |
| 29 | Delaware | 4.16 |
| 30 | Iowa | 4.12 |
| 31 | Indiana | 4.01 |
| 32 | North Dakota | 4 |
| 33 | West Virginia | 3.99 |
| 34 | Rhode Island | 3.99 |
| 35 | Montana | 3.97 |
| 36 | Oregon | 3.97 |
| 37 | Illinois | 3.97 |
| 38 | New Jersey | 3.95 |
| 39 | Minnesota | 3.91 |
| 40 | Ohio | 3.88 |
| 41 | Pennsylvania | 3.87 |
| 42 | Connecticut | 3.84 |
| 43 | New York | 3.83 |
| 44 | Wisconsin | 3.77 |
| 45 | Massachusetts | 3.75 |
| 46 | Washington | 3.72 |
| 47 | Michigan | 3.69 |
| 48 | New Hampshire | 3.65 |
| 49 | Maine | 3.53 |
| 50 | Vermont | 3.43 |
| 51 | Alaska | 2.46 |
More on daily sunlight
- US Counties With the Lowest Daily Sunlight
- Daily sunlight by US county: map by year and what it goes with
A ranking describes places, not the people in them, and a high or low place does not by itself say why. All US rankings.