Mild swings, famous light
At 34° N, Los Angeles ranges from about 9 hours 53 minutes of daylight in December to 14 hours 26 minutes in June. Combined with the Pacific marine layer that burns off by mid-morning, this is why the region's golden hours are famously reliable — sunset skies over the ocean face west with nothing in the way.
The June gloom caveat
Astronomy gives LA long summer evenings, but the coastal 'June gloom' stratus can grey out the early part of the golden hour. The light after the layer burns off, or from a Malibu vantage point north of the fog bank, usually delivers anyway.
Sources and standards
Where these figures come from
Every formula on this page is implemented from the published reference material below. Where a value depends on a regional code, the calculator lets you override it rather than assuming one jurisdiction.
- NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory — Solar Calculator — the solar position algorithm underlying sunrise, sunset and solar noon.
- NASA Science — Sun — solar geometry and the definition of civil, nautical and astronomical twilight.
- NIST Time and Frequency Division — time standards and the definition of the day.
Figures, formulas and reference tables last verified: 24 September 2026.