Calculated sunrise, sunset, golden hour and blue hour times for Santa Monica, 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 Santa Monica, sunset ranges from 4:44 PM in November to 8:09 PM in June. Every time on this page is calculated for Santa Monica's coordinates (34.0195, -118.4914) and shown in America/Los_Angeles.
| Month | Sunrise | Sunset | Golden hour (evening) | Length | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6:59 AM | 5:08 PM | 4:30 PM – 5:08 PM | 38 min | 10h 09m |
| February | 6:38 AM | 5:38 PM | 5:03 PM – 5:38 PM | 35 min | 11h 00m |
| March | 7:04 AM | 7:01 PM | 6:28 PM – 7:01 PM | 33 min | 11h 58m |
| April | 6:22 AM | 7:25 PM | 6:52 PM – 7:25 PM | 33 min | 13h 03m |
| May | 5:52 AM | 7:48 PM | 7:13 PM – 7:48 PM | 35 min | 13h 56m |
| June | 5:42 AM | 8:06 PM | 7:30 PM – 8:06 PM | 36 min | 14h 25m |
| July | 5:53 AM | 8:05 PM | 7:29 PM – 8:05 PM | 36 min | 14h 12m |
| August | 6:15 AM | 7:40 PM | 7:06 PM – 7:40 PM | 34 min | 13h 25m |
| September | 6:37 AM | 7:00 PM | 6:27 PM – 7:00 PM | 33 min | 12h 23m |
| October | 6:59 AM | 6:19 PM | 5:45 PM – 6:19 PM | 34 min | 11h 20m |
| November | 6:26 AM | 4:50 PM | 4:13 PM – 4:50 PM | 37 min | 10h 24m |
| December | 6:52 AM | 4:46 PM | 4:07 PM – 4:46 PM | 39 min | 9h 54m |
Golden hour is not the same length all year in Santa Monica. It is longest in December at about 39 minutes and shortest in March at about 33 minutes — a difference of 6 minutes of usable warm light per evening.
Santa Monica gets 4h 31m more daylight on the longest day than the shortest. Sunset moves from 4:46 PM in December to 8:06 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 8:36 PM, and in December until about 5:14 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.