What time does the sun set today?
Sunset is the moment the top edge of the sun disappears below a flat horizon. The time depends on where you are and the date: it moves by a minute or two a day, and by hours between summer and winter. Here is today’s sunset for your location.
Calculating for your location…
Next 7 days ·
Why sunset isn’t at the same time everywhere
Three things decide it. Latitude and season come first: in summer the sun’s path is longer and it sets later, and the further you are from the equator the bigger the difference between June and December. Second is your position inside your time zone: a zone is roughly 15° of longitude wide, and the sun sets about four minutes later for every degree you go west, so cities at the western edge of a zone see later sunsets on the clock. Third, daylight saving time moves the clock by an hour for part of the year.
Sunset through the year in six cities
| Date | New York | Los Angeles | Chicago | London | Tokyo | Sydney |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 15 | 4:53 PM | 5:07 PM | 4:45 PM | 4:21 PM | 4:51 PM | 8:10 PM |
| Feb 15 | 5:31 PM | 5:37 PM | 5:24 PM | 5:15 PM | 5:23 PM | 7:50 PM |
| Mar 15 | 7:03 PM | 7:01 PM | 6:57 PM | 6:05 PM | 5:49 PM | 7:16 PM |
| Apr 15 | 7:35 PM | 7:25 PM | 7:31 PM | 7:56 PM | 6:14 PM | 5:34 PM |
| May 15 | 8:07 PM | 7:48 PM | 8:04 PM | 8:46 PM | 6:39 PM | 5:04 PM |
| Jun 15 | 8:30 PM | 8:07 PM | 8:28 PM | 9:20 PM | 6:59 PM | 4:54 PM |
| Jul 15 | 8:27 PM | 8:06 PM | 8:25 PM | 9:13 PM | 6:59 PM | 5:04 PM |
| Aug 15 | 7:56 PM | 7:41 PM | 7:52 PM | 8:25 PM | 6:33 PM | 5:26 PM |
| Sep 15 | 7:07 PM | 7:01 PM | 7:02 PM | 7:18 PM | 5:51 PM | 5:47 PM |
| Oct 15 | 6:17 PM | 6:20 PM | 6:11 PM | 6:09 PM | 5:08 PM | 7:08 PM |
| Nov 15 | 4:39 PM | 4:50 PM | 4:31 PM | 4:13 PM | 4:36 PM | 7:36 PM |
| Dec 15 | 4:30 PM | 4:46 PM | 4:21 PM | 3:52 PM | 4:30 PM | 8:02 PM |
What counts as sunset
Published sunset times are for the upper edge of the sun touching a flat, sea-level horizon. The atmosphere bends light, so you can still see the sun for a couple of minutes after it has geometrically gone; the standard calculation allows for this by using a sun altitude of −0.83°. From a hill or a tall building you will see the sun set a little later than the published time; with mountains to the west, earlier.
The earliest sunset is not on the shortest day
In New York the earliest sunset of 2026 is on December 8 at 4:29 PM, about two weeks before the shortest day on December 22, and the latest winter sunrise is not until January 4. The Earth’s tilted axis and elliptical orbit shift solar noon by a few minutes over the year (the equation of time), so sunrise and sunset reach their extremes on different dates from the solstice.