How Often Do Total Solar Eclipses Occur?

How Often Does a Total Solar Eclipse Occur?

A total solar eclipse is visible from somewhere on Earth about every 18 months. However, many of these events can be seen only from remote locales where travel is difficult. See the Almanac’s Eclipse Calendar for the upcoming year.

A better question is: How often is a total solar eclipse visible from any given location, such as the town where you live?

For any given place on Earth, a solar totality appears just once each 375, on average. Here and there, a few odd places enjoy two totalities in a single decade while others must cool their heels for more than a millennium. 

By chance, some locations are treated to total solar eclipses only a few years apart.

• In the last 100 years, some areas have been in the path of multiple eclipses: New England, for example, saw five. 
• In New York City, the last total solar eclipse was in 1925.
• Chicago has not seen a total solar eclipse in the last 100 years.
• On the west coast, San Diego was last eclipsed in 1923.
• The city of Los Angeles is in the midst of a “dry spell” of more than 1,500 years without a total solar eclipse.
• The location with the longest dry spell is near Tucson; the last solar eclipse was in the year 797.

Total Eclipse Interval Between Major Cities

For those who are curious as to how long one must wait between total solar eclipses, I put together a list of North American cities, and the current interval between totalities to show how great the variation is between them!

But the real reason to do everything in one’s power to see a total eclipse of the Sun: It’s nature’s most awesome experience. Surveys of backyard astronomers and naturalists show that most people are swept into awe by a brilliant comet, which happens every 15 to 20 years on average. And also by a bright display of the Northern Lights. One might include the rare bolide or exploding meteor. But the very best of them all is a solar totality. One is crossing a large swath of the U.S. plus a few small parts of Canada in about a year.

See my 2024 Total Solar Eclipse Guide!