Seasonal figures below use a 2025 reference year. Choose a date in the planner above for that day’s times, golden hour, twilight, and daylight milestones.
Seasonal Sun Milestones in Sun City
Sun City's 7 PM sunsets run from about April 14 to August 27 — 136 evenings in a typical year. Even in midwinter, sunset here never falls before 5 PM on the clock.
Days in Sun City first reach 12 hours of daylight around March 16, a few days before the March equinox, and drop back under 12 hours after September 25. Days with at least 14 hours of daylight run from May 19 to July 23. Days with less than 10 hours of daylight run from December 8 to January 3 (27 days).
The Sun's rising point moves along the horizon too. Around the June solstice it rises in the ENE (61°) and sets in the WNW (299°); by the December solstice it rises in the ESE (118°) and sets in the WSW (242°). That is a 57° swing — worth knowing when choosing a west-facing viewpoint for a summer sunset or an east-facing window for winter morning light.
Dates use the 2025 reference year. Clock-time milestones near daylight-saving changes move with the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in November.
Daylight Through the Year in Sun City
At 33.62°N, Sun City has a milder seasonal daylight swing than cities to the north. Across the year, the length of the day here varies by 4h 28m.
On the summer solstice around June 21, Sun City receives 14h 23m of daylight — the longest day of the year. By the winter solstice around December 21, that shrinks to 9h 55m, the shortest day. At the spring and autumn equinoxes, day and night are nearly equal at about 12h 9m, as they are everywhere on Earth.
Sunset moves fastest around September, when it shifts by up to 1.4 minutes a day in Sun City, and barely moves for weeks around the solstices. See how sunrise and sunset change through the year for why.
The Sun's Path Over Sun City
Where the Sun sits in the sky over Sun City depends on the season, and the contrast between summer and winter is set by the city's latitude of 33.62°N. On the summer solstice the midday Sun reaches 79.8° above the horizon in Sun City, its highest point of the year. On the winter solstice the midday Sun only reaches 33.0°, sitting much lower in the southern sky and casting long shadows even at noon.
Those roughly 47 degrees separating the summer and winter midday Sun are exactly what give Sun City its seasons.
The live sun path at the top of this page shows the Sun's altitude and compass bearing for the current moment or any chosen date.
Earliest and Latest Sunrises and Sunsets in Sun City
It is natural to assume Sun City sees its latest sunset on the longest day of the year, but it does not. The latest sunset actually falls around June 29 at about 7:43 PM, while the earliest sunset comes around December 4 at roughly 5:21 PM — noticeably before the December solstice.
On the morning side, the earliest sunrise in Sun City is around June 12 at 5:18 AM, and the latest sunrise around January 7 at 7:34 AM. The equation of time and daylight saving pull these dates away from the solstices — explained in why the latest sunset isn't on the longest day.
No Clock Changes in Sun City
Unlike most of the United States, Sun City, Arizona does not observe daylight saving time. Most of Arizona has kept standard time year-round since the late 1960s — the summer evenings are hot enough that an extra hour of evening sun was never popular. (The Navajo Nation, in the state's northeast, is the exception and does change its clocks.)
In practice this means no jarring one-hour jump in sunrise and sunset twice a year. Across the whole year, sunset in Sun City only ranges from about 5:21 PM at the earliest to 7:43 PM at the latest — the change residents notice is gradual and driven purely by the Sun, never by the clock.
One side effect worth knowing: the time difference between Sun City and cities that do change their clocks shifts twice a year. A place that is normally in the same hour can be an hour off from mid-March to early November, which matters for calls, broadcasts, and travel schedules.
Golden Hour & Blue Hour Photography in Sun City
For photographers in Sun City, Arizona, the planner shows your selected date's morning and evening golden-hour and blue-hour windows. Choose Today, Tomorrow, or a date in the calendar; all clock times are calculated in Sun City's local timezone.
Golden "hour" is a misnomer — its length in Sun City depends on the season, because it lasts as long as the Sun takes to climb from the horizon to 6° (or descend back). Around the equinoxes it runs about 33 minutes; near the June solstice, when the Sun rises and sets at a shallower angle, it stretches to roughly 37 minutes, and near the December solstice it lasts about 38 minutes.
See the golden hour guide and blue hour guide for how to plan a shoot around these windows.
Solar Energy Potential in Sun City
Under clear skies, Sun City, Arizona receives about 5.6 peak sun hours per day averaged across the year — from roughly 2.7 in December up to 8.3 in June. One peak sun hour equals one hour of sunlight at full intensity (1 kW/m²), the standard unit for estimating solar panel output.
Because Sun City sits at 33.6°N, a fixed, south-facing panel captures the most energy over the year when tilted at roughly 34° from horizontal — about equal to the latitude. If you adjust the tilt seasonally, flatten to about 19° in summer, when the Sun rides high, and steepen to about 49° in winter, when it stays low.
These are clear-sky upper bounds from Sun City's solar geometry, not a forecast; clouds, shading, and equipment lower real output. See what peak sun hours mean.
How Sun City Compares
Daylight in Sun City swings 4h 28m between the June and December solstices. The median across the 1,847 cities on this site is 5h 16m, so Sun City has a 48m gentler seasonal swing than a typical American city. By that measure Sun City ranks 1382nd of 1,847 nationally, and 11th of the 38 Arizona cities listed here — counting from the largest swing down.
Sun City sits about 7.3° west of 105°W — the meridian Mountain Time (no daylight saving) is built around. Longitude alone therefore puts mean solar noon roughly 29 minutes after clock noon in standard time, so the Sun runs behind the clock here, which is why evenings hold light later than the time zone would suggest. The equation of time then moves true solar noon up to about 16 minutes either side of that through the year.
About Sun Times in Sun City
Sun City, Arizona, has an estimated urban-area population of 37,486. Its primary county or equivalent is Maricopa; its center is at 33.62°N, 112.28°W. Clocks here follow Mountain Time (no daylight saving), which is the timezone all sunrise, sunset, golden-hour and twilight times on this page are shown in.
Times are computed for Sun City's city-center coordinates, so towns to the east see each event slightly earlier and towns to the west slightly later; the nearby-cities list above shows the typical gap.