Daylight in New York
At latitude 40.7° N, New York's daylight swings from about 9 hours 15 minutes at the winter solstice (December 21) to 15 hours 6 minutes at the summer solstice (June 21). Earliest sunset lands around December 7 (about 16:28 EST) and latest sunrise around January 4; in summer the latest sunset pushes past 20:30 EDT in late June.
The skyline matters
Midtown Manhattan adds its own shadow clock: street canyons run 30–60 minutes darker than the calculator's horizon-based times in the morning. For rooftop and bridge photography, use the golden-hour window from the tool — it is computed for true horizon, which is what the East River and Hudson River views actually give you.
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.