Sorry, Denver: These Colorado Cities Outshine You

We've all heard the lore of this famous slogan for our state: Colorado - 300 days of sun per year. However, that doesn't always ring true. While it may seem like it's always sunny in Colorado, the 300 days a year packed full of sunshine was just a fancy marketing slogan to lure people from the East Coast to Colorado in the 1870s, according to Westword.

In 2025, we live in a world full of marketing targeted specifically to each of us. It also appears that it seemed to work quite well in the 1800s for those looking for sunnier skies. In this day in age, we can pretty much fact-check any and everything on the fly thanks to smartphones and unlimited internet connectivity.

Florida: The Sunshine State Without the Sunshine Stats

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The state of Florida's slogan is the Sunshine State, but there is one key element missing. None of Florida's cities ranks at the top of the list for the amount of hours of sunshine per year.

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Three Colorado cities ranked in the top 20 when it comes to the amount of hours of sunlight annually, and none of them ranks in the top 10. According to ChatGPT's data, Pueblo, Colorado, ranks the highest among the sunniest cities in the United States with an average of 3,332 hours of sunshine per year.

Denver Left in the Shade

Colorado Springs ranks 15th with 3,300 hours annually, and Grand Junction, Colorado is the last city from our state on the list at 19th wth 3,200 hours. What I find to be the most intriguing is that Denver, Colorado, is nowhere to be found on the list, yet Cheyenne, Wyoming, is, ranking 25th on the list with 3,080 hours of sunlight per year.

READ MORE: Sunshine And Warmer Temps Before More Colorado Snow

The sunniest city in the entire world is not too far away from Colorado. Yuma, Arizona, has been ranked as the city with the most hours of sunlight per year, at an astonishing 4,015 hours. The amount of sunlight in this city averages out to 11 hours of daylight over 365 days.