US Counties With the Lowest Winter Daily Sunlight

3,144 US counties ranked by winter daily sunlight, from lowest to highest. First are North Slope Borough, AK (0.125), Northwest Arctic Borough, AK (0.195) and Nome Census Area, AK (0.256). The middle one of the 3,144 has 2.31.

What this measures

The average amount of sunlight reaching the ground each day in winter, in kilowatt-hours per square metre. Winter here means December of the year before, then January and February. So the winter of 2024 to 2025 is listed under 2025. Winter light is lower the farther north a place is, since the sun is low and days are short, and lower where winters are cloudy. NASA estimates it from weather satellites for squares of land about 60 miles across. 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 lowest counties

Every state, lowest first

Each state’s own published figure, not an average of its counties.

More on winter daily sunlight

• US Counties With the Highest Winter Daily Sunlight
• Winter 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.