Great light in Chico isn't luck — it's timing. This page calculates today's sunset, sunrise, golden hour and blue hour for Chico's exact location, live, and works for any date you choose. With a west-facing coastline nearby, evenings are the show — the sun drops toward the Pacific and the last hour of light runs warm and long.
The month-by-month table below is in this city's own local time. The live times above follow your device's timezone. Mountains, ridgelines and buildings can shorten the usable window — scout your horizon.
Local tip: Arrive 30 minutes before the golden hour window opens. Setup always takes longer than planned, and the first ten minutes of good light are often the best.
In Chico, sunset ranges from 4:42 PM in December to 8:39 PM in June. Evening golden hour lasts about 41 minutes at the summer solstice and 42 minutes at the winter solstice. Times below are local to Chico (America/Los_Angeles).
| Month | Sunrise | Sunset | Golden hour (evening) | Length | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7:26 AM | 5:07 PM | 4:26 PM – 5:07 PM | 41 min | 9h 41m |
| February | 6:59 AM | 5:43 PM | 5:06 PM – 5:43 PM | 37 min | 10h 44m |
| March | 7:18 AM | 7:14 PM | 6:38 PM – 7:14 PM | 36 min | 11h 56m |
| April | 6:29 AM | 7:45 PM | 7:09 PM – 7:45 PM | 36 min | 13h 16m |
| May | 5:52 AM | 8:15 PM | 7:36 PM – 8:15 PM | 39 min | 14h 23m |
| June | 5:38 AM | 8:37 PM | 7:56 PM – 8:37 PM | 41 min | 14h 58m |
| July | 5:52 AM | 8:34 PM | 7:54 PM – 8:34 PM | 40 min | 14h 42m |
| August | 6:19 AM | 8:03 PM | 7:26 PM – 8:03 PM | 37 min | 13h 44m |
| September | 6:48 AM | 7:15 PM | 6:40 PM – 7:15 PM | 35 min | 12h 27m |
| October | 7:17 AM | 6:27 PM | 5:51 PM – 6:27 PM | 36 min | 11h 10m |
| November | 6:52 AM | 4:51 PM | 4:11 PM – 4:51 PM | 40 min | 9h 59m |
| December | 7:21 AM | 4:43 PM | 4:01 PM – 4:43 PM | 42 min | 9h 23m |
Golden hour is the stretch just after sunrise and just before sunset, when the low sun turns hard daylight into soft, warm, directional light — the most flattering natural light for portraits, real estate, product and landscape photography. Blue hour follows sunset (and precedes sunrise): a short window of deep, even blue that's ideal for twilight real estate shots and skylines. Both windows change with latitude and season, which is why this page computes them live instead of guessing.
Kanyon Studio is a San Diego photography and video studio — golden hour is our home field. Brand shoots, products, real estate and portraits, planned around exactly this light.
