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Golden Hour in Philadelphia, PA

Calculated sunrise, sunset, golden hour and blue hour times for Philadelphia, PA. Select a date to view the calculated light times.

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.

Photography planning

Terrain, buildings and weather can affect visible light. Check the horizon and conditions at the selected location.

In Philadelphia, sunset ranges from 4:35 PM in December to 8:33 PM in June. Every time on this page is calculated for Philadelphia's coordinates (39.9526, -75.1652) and shown in America/New_York.

Sunrise, sunset and golden hour in Philadelphia by month

MonthSunriseSunsetGolden hour (evening)LengthDaylight
January7:20 AM5:00 PM4:18 PM – 5:00 PM42 min9h 40m
February6:53 AM5:36 PM4:59 PM – 5:36 PM37 min10h 43m
March7:12 AM7:07 PM6:31 PM – 7:07 PM36 min11h 56m
April6:22 AM7:39 PM7:02 PM – 7:39 PM37 min13h 16m
May5:45 AM8:09 PM7:30 PM – 8:09 PM39 min14h 24m
June5:31 AM8:31 PM7:50 PM – 8:31 PM41 min15h 00m
July5:44 AM8:28 PM7:48 PM – 8:28 PM40 min14h 44m
August6:12 AM7:57 PM7:20 PM – 7:57 PM37 min13h 45m
September6:41 AM7:09 PM6:33 PM – 7:09 PM36 min12h 28m
October7:11 AM6:21 PM5:44 PM – 6:21 PM37 min11h 10m
November6:45 AM4:44 PM4:04 PM – 4:44 PM40 min9h 59m
December7:15 AM4:36 PM3:53 PM – 4:36 PM43 min9h 21m

How the light changes through the year in Philadelphia

Golden hour is not the same length all year in Philadelphia. It is longest in December at about 43 minutes and shortest in March at about 36 minutes — a difference of 7 minutes of usable warm light per evening.

Philadelphia gets 5h 39m more daylight on the longest day than the shortest. Sunset moves from 4:36 PM in December to 8:31 PM in June, so an evening shoot that works in summer will be shooting in the dark at the same clock time in winter.

Blue hour follows sunset and is worth planning for separately: in June it runs until about 9:03 PM, and in December until about 5:06 PM.

The year at a glance

  • Earliest sunset: 4:35 PM on December 2
  • Latest sunset: 8:33 PM on June 22
  • Longest day: 15h 01m on June 21
  • Shortest day: 9h 20m on December 21
  • Golden hour length: about 41 minutes in June, 43 minutes in December
  • Time zone: America/New_York

What is golden hour?

Golden hour is the period near sunrise and sunset when the sun is low. Blue hour occurs before sunrise and after sunset. Calculated times vary with location and date; weather, terrain and buildings can affect visible light.

Photography services

Kanyon Studio provides photography and video in San Diego. Location, lighting and scheduling are agreed for each shoot.