Top 25 Sunniest US Cities Ranked by Housing Cost
I recently put together a way to calculate the price of a day of annual sunshine. I thought some people might be interested in finding just the sunniest places in America ranked by the cost of owning a home in those locations. Abilene is #1 and Texas dominates with 5 of the top 7 locations. California also has 5 cities in the top 25 but most of them are near the bottom due to high housing costs. Cities in Arizona (4), Colorado (3), Nevada (2), Florida (2), Louisiana (1), Oklahoma (1), New Mexico (1), and Hawaii (1) complete the list.
Here are the Top 25. Or, check out this map.
| Rank | Location |
% Sunshine |
Median home value |
$ Per Sunny Day |
|
1 |
ABILENE, TX |
70% |
$64,500 |
$252.45 |
|
2 |
EL PASO, TX |
84% |
$78,600 |
$256.36 |
|
3 |
MIDLAND-ODESSA, TX |
74% |
$85,200 |
$315.44 |
|
4 |
LAKE CHARLES, LA |
72% |
$84,200 |
$320.40 |
|
5 |
LUBBOCK, TX |
72% |
$84,600 |
$321.92 |
|
6 |
YUMA, AZ |
90% |
$106,800 |
$325.11 |
|
7 |
AMARILLO, TX |
73% |
$92,700 |
$347.91 |
|
8 |
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK |
68% |
$102,600 |
$413.38 |
|
9 |
PUEBLO, CO |
76% |
$121,700 |
$438.72 |
|
10 |
ALBUQUERQUE, NM |
76% |
$146,900 |
$529.56 |
|
11 |
TUCSON, AZ |
85% |
$167,400 |
$539.56 |
|
12 |
GRAND JUNCTION, CO |
71% |
$163,600 |
$631.29 |
|
13 |
PHOENIX, AZ |
85% |
$207,300 |
$668.17 |
|
14 |
REDDING, CA |
88% |
$240,200 |
$747.82 |
|
15 |
FLAGSTAFF, AZ |
78% |
$213,500 |
$749.91 |
|
16 |
FRESNO, CA |
79% |
$251,000 |
$870.47 |
|
17 |
LAS VEGAS, NV |
85% |
$289,300 |
$932.47 |
|
18 |
DENVER, CO |
69% |
$239,100 |
$949.37 |
|
19 |
MIAMI, FL |
70% |
$250,000 |
$978.47 |
|
20 |
RENO, NV |
79% |
$333,700 |
$1,157.27 |
|
21 |
SACRAMENTO, CA |
78% |
$396,900 |
$1,394.10 |
|
22 |
HONOLULU, HI |
71% |
$457,700 |
$1,766.16 |
|
23 |
LOS ANGELES, CA |
73% |
$520,000 |
$1,951.59 |
|
24 |
SAN DIEGO, CA |
68% |
$552,000 |
$2,224.01 |
|
25 |
KEY WEST, FL |
76% |
$683,200 |
$2,462.87 |
Category: Geography, Real Estate
About the Author (Author Profile)
Justin Holman is CEO of TerraSeer, where he leads efforts to develop cutting edge sales forecasting and inventory optimization technology for the Automotive Aftermarket. Prior to joining TerraSeer, Justin managed corporate consulting for the Strategy & Analytics division at MapInfo Corporation, leading major projects for retail clients including The Home Depot, Darden Restaurants, Bridgestone-Firestone, Sainsbury’s and New York & Company. Before that, Justin served as Vice President of Software Development at LogicTools, now part of IBM's supply chain application software group. Justin holds a B.A. from Claremont McKenna College, a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon and an Executive Management certificate from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.Subscribe
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Sites That Link to this Post
- Why Pueblo? « justinholman | February 5, 2012
- The Price of a Sunny Day: top 5 bargain locations if you want to live in the sun « Geography, Analytics and Financial Decisions | February 8, 2012
- Map of the Best Bargains in Sunshine « Geographical Perspectives | March 19, 2012
If you talk to the utility companies they will make the same arguments. The list above makes the perfect list if you want to live where the sun shines and go solar. Photovoltaic use is popular in Pueblo for a reason – the sun is shinning!
Thanks for the comment, Dena!
What a fun project and a great map. I’d love to see more data points in the west/west coast/pacific northwest.
Thanks, Debbie! I agree that the data is a bit sparse. The limiting factor is the % sunshine data from the NCDC at NOAA. They don’t seem to include all the cities that I would expect. Not sure why. Thanks again! Cheers, Justin