The short answer
The shortest day of the year is the December solstice: Monday, Dec 21, 2026 (20:50 UTC, which is 3:50 pm in New York). But the earliest sunset comes a week or two before it, and the latest sunrise a week or two after.
The reason is the equation of time. Our clocks count every day as exactly 24 hours. The Sun doesn't keep that pace: in late December each solar day is almost half a minute longer than 24 hours, so the middle of the day (solar noon) slides later on the clock day after day. The U.S. Naval Observatory puts it this way: the equation of time “moves the date of earliest sunset to before the solstice and the date of latest sunrise to after the solstice” (USNO, The Equation of Time (opens in a new tab)).
In the figure above, look at the middle row: solar noon keeps getting later all season. Near the solstice the day stops shrinking, so that drift is all that's left, and sunset starts getting later before the shortest day while sunrise keeps getting later after it.
Earliest sunset in 10 cities
| City (ZIP) | Earliest sunset | Sunset on Dec 21 | Latest sunrise | Back to 5 pm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York, NY (10001) | 4:28 pm, Dec 8 | 4:32 pm | 7:20 am, Jan 4 | Jan 21 |
| Chicago, IL (60601) | 4:19 pm, Dec 8 | 4:23 pm | 7:18 am, Jan 4 | Jan 28 |
| Denver, CO (80202) | 4:35 pm, Dec 7 | 4:39 pm | 7:21 am, Jan 5 | Jan 15 |
| Los Angeles, CA (90012) | 4:43 pm, Dec 4 | 4:48 pm | 6:59 am, Jan 7 | Jan 8 |
| Seattle, WA (98101) | 4:18 pm, Dec 10 | 4:20 pm | 7:58 am, Jan 1 | Jan 25 |
| Boston, MA (02108) | 4:12 pm, Dec 8 | 4:15 pm | 7:14 am, Jan 3 | Feb 3 |
| Miami, FL (33131) | 5:29 pm, Nov 29 | 5:35 pm | 7:09 am, Jan 13 | Never below 5 pm |
| Anchorage, AK (99501) | 3:40 pm, Dec 16 | 3:41 pm | 10:15 am, Dec 26 | Jan 30 |
| Phoenix, AZ (85004) | 5:20 pm, Dec 4 | 5:25 pm | 7:33 am, Jan 8 | Never below 5 pm |
| Honolulu, HI (96813) | 5:48 pm, Nov 26 | 5:55 pm | 7:11 am, Jan 16 | Never below 5 pm |
Many days share the same rounded minute, so other sites may name a different “earliest” day. We pick the day with the earliest sunset to the second and show the whole same-minute run in your result. See also your sunset before and after the clock change.
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