Calculated sunrise, sunset, golden hour and blue hour times for Sacramento, CA. 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.
Terrain, buildings and weather can affect visible light. Check the horizon and conditions at the selected location.
In Sacramento, sunset ranges from 4:44 PM in December to 8:34 PM in June. Every time on this page is calculated for Sacramento's coordinates (38.5816, -121.4944) and shown in America/Los_Angeles.
| Month | Sunrise | Sunset | Golden hour (evening) | Length | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7:22 AM | 5:09 PM | 4:28 PM – 5:09 PM | 41 min | 9h 47m |
| February | 6:56 AM | 5:44 PM | 5:07 PM – 5:44 PM | 37 min | 10h 48m |
| March | 7:16 AM | 7:13 PM | 6:38 PM – 7:13 PM | 35 min | 11h 56m |
| April | 6:29 AM | 7:42 PM | 7:07 PM – 7:42 PM | 35 min | 13h 13m |
| May | 5:54 AM | 8:11 PM | 7:33 PM – 8:11 PM | 38 min | 14h 17m |
| June | 5:41 AM | 8:32 PM | 7:52 PM – 8:32 PM | 40 min | 14h 51m |
| July | 5:54 AM | 8:29 PM | 7:50 PM – 8:29 PM | 39 min | 14h 36m |
| August | 6:20 AM | 7:59 PM | 7:23 PM – 7:59 PM | 36 min | 13h 40m |
| September | 6:47 AM | 7:13 PM | 6:38 PM – 7:13 PM | 35 min | 12h 26m |
| October | 7:15 AM | 6:27 PM | 5:51 PM – 6:27 PM | 36 min | 11h 12m |
| November | 6:48 AM | 4:52 PM | 4:13 PM – 4:52 PM | 39 min | 10h 05m |
| December | 7:16 AM | 4:45 PM | 4:04 PM – 4:45 PM | 41 min | 9h 29m |
Golden hour is not the same length all year in Sacramento. It is longest in January at about 41 minutes and shortest in March at about 35 minutes — a difference of 6 minutes of usable warm light per evening.
Sacramento gets 5h 22m more daylight on the longest day than the shortest. Sunset moves from 4:45 PM in December to 8:32 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 9:04 PM, and in December until about 5:15 PM.
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.
Kanyon Studio provides photography and video in San Diego. Location, lighting and scheduling are agreed for each shoot.