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New Yorkers, brace yourselves: The era of post-work sunshine is about to end.
We've long since said goodbye to the 7pm sundown. Now we have to contend with the fact that the city’s final 6pm sunset of 2025 will happen on Saturday, October 25, and after that, twilight will move in fast. On October 26, the sun sets at 5:59pm; by Sunday, November 2, it’s down to 4:50pm—a full hour earlier overnight.
The culprit is Daylight Saving Time, which officially ends on November 2 at 2am when clocks “fall back” an hour. The system, now part of American life for over a century, was first introduced during World War I as a fuel-saving measure and later formalized under the Uniform Time Act of 1966. That law standardized the practice across the country while letting states opt out—a choice exercised by Hawaii, most of Arizona and several U.S. territories.
Since 2007, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 has kept us on this longer schedule, running from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November—about 65-percent of the year. The idea: more daylight for work, recreation and evening commerce. Critics, however, say the benefits are overstated, pointing to studies showing little energy savings and plenty of disrupted sleep.
So when will the light return? Not for a while. From late October onward, New Yorkers lose a few minutes of daylight each day until the winter solstice on December 21, the shortest day of the year, with just 9 hours and 15 minutes of daylight and a 4:31pm sunset. The turnaround begins slowly after that, but the next sunset after 6pm won’t arrive until March 9, 2026, the first day of Daylight Saving Time.
Until then, enjoy these final golden hours. Because starting next week, “after work” officially means “after dark.”