The world's sunniest cities in 2026, ranked
901 major cities worldwide ranked by annual sunshine hours from long-term climate normals, by Sunshine Atlas. Published July 2026.
Key findings
• Phoenix, United States is the world's sunniest major city: 3,872 hours of sunshine a year — 2.4× more than London's 1,633.
• United States leads the top 10 with 5 of the world's 10 sunniest cities.
• The sunniest big city (3M+ people) is Phoenix at 3,872 hours a year.
• Every inhabited continent has its own sun capital — the per-continent table is below.
The top 30
| # | City | Country | Sun h/yr | Best month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phoenix | 🇺🇸 United States | 3,872 | April |
| 2 | Las Vegas | 🇺🇸 United States | 3,825 | April |
| 3 | Luxor | 🇪🇬 Egypt | 3,811 | January |
| 4 | Tucson | 🇺🇸 United States | 3,806 | April |
| 5 | Mesa | 🇺🇸 United States | 3,767 | April |
| 6 | Sohag | 🇪🇬 Egypt | 3,767 | January |
| 7 | El Paso | 🇺🇸 United States | 3,762 | April |
| 8 | Khartoum | 🇸🇩 Sudan | 3,737 | January |
| 9 | Mexicali | 🇲🇽 Mexico | 3,679 | March |
| 10 | Tabuk | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | 3,679 | February |
| 11 | Ciudad Juárez | 🇲🇽 Mexico | 3,635 | April |
| 12 | Sacramento | 🇺🇸 United States | 3,608 | June |
| 13 | Medina | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | 3,592 | February |
| 14 | Hail | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | 3,592 | October |
| 15 | Najaf | 🇮🇶 Iraq | 3,592 | March |
| 16 | Alexandria | 🇪🇬 Egypt | 3,580 | May |
| 17 | Fresno | 🇺🇸 United States | 3,564 | September |
| 18 | Cairo | 🇪🇬 Egypt | 3,542 | February |
| 19 | Dubai | 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates | 3,509 | November |
| 20 | Qassim | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | 3,504 | February |
| 21 | Windhoek | 🇳🇦 Namibia | 3,504 | June |
| 22 | Abu Dhabi | 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates | 3,460 | February |
| 23 | Muscat/Seeb | 🇴🇲 Oman | 3,460 | November |
| 24 | Reno | 🇺🇸 United States | 3,460 | August |
| 25 | Doha | 🇶🇦 Qatar | 3,416 | May |
| 26 | Sharjah | 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates | 3,416 | February |
| 27 | Albuquerque | 🇺🇸 United States | 3,415 | April |
| 28 | Port Sudan | 🇸🇩 Sudan | 3,382 | February |
| 29 | Jeddah | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | 3,373 | February |
| 30 | Denpasar | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | 3,373 | August |
Explore all 3,833 destinations on the interactive globe →
The sunniest city on each continent
The single sunniest major destination on every inhabited continent — a fairer global spread than a raw list, which the desert belt dominates.
| Continent | Sunniest city | Sun h/yr |
|---|---|---|
| North America | Phoenix, 🇺🇸 United States | 3,872 |
| Africa | Luxor, 🇪🇬 Egypt | 3,811 |
| Asia | Tabuk, 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | 3,679 |
| South America | Arequipa, 🇵🇪 Peru | 3,333 |
| Europe | Seville, 🇪🇸 Spain | 3,279 |
| Oceania | Perth, 🇦🇺 Australia | 3,230 |
Methodology
Cities are ranked by annual sunshine hours from long-term climate normals (CRU climatology), limited to major destinations with a passenger airport and a population over 250,000 — so every entry is a real city you can fly to, not a lone desert airstrip. Sunshine hours are the yearly total of bright sunshine: a desert city clears 4,000, a cloudy northern one barely passes 1,500. For the 0–100 Sunshine Score that also weighs warmth and rain, spin the globe. See also Europe's sunniest cities and the world's sunniest countries.
Republish this data
Free to use under CC BY 4.0: credit Sunshine Atlas and link to this page. Download the full ranking as CSV: sunshine-atlas-worlds-sunniest-cities.csv (901 cities, annual sunshine hours + best month).
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