Where in the US the Sun Sets Earliest, and Where the Days Are Shortest
The shortest days
Alaska is in a class of its own: Fairbanks, AK (3h 42m), Wasilla, AK (5h 19m), Anchorage, AK (5h 28m), Juneau, AK (6h 21m). Only 4 places in this dataset get under 8 hours on the shortest day. In the lower 48 the shortest days are along the northern border: Lynden, WA (8h 14m), Ferndale, WA (8h 15m), Bellingham, WA (8h 16m), Anacortes, WA (8h 18m). At the other end, Honolulu, HI (10h 50m), Key West, FL (10h 37m), Marathon, FL (10h 36m), Homestead, FL (10h 33m) keep well over 10 hours.
The earliest sunsets
The earliest winter sunsets in the dataset: Fairbanks, AK at 2:39 pm, Juneau, AK at 3:04 pm, Wasilla, AK at 3:34 pm, Anchorage, AK at 3:38 pm, Sandpoint, ID at 3:52 pm, Bangor, ME at 3:54 pm. 701 of 3,206 places see a sunset before 4:30 pm at some point in December.
Time zones move sunset as much as latitude does
The places that keep the latest sunset all winter are not just the southernmost. Honolulu is there, but so are towns at the western edge of a time zone: Town of Pecos, TX at 5:51 pm (Chicago), Honolulu, HI at 5:48 pm (Honolulu), Odessa, TX at 5:45 pm (Chicago), Del Rio, TX at 5:45 pm (Chicago). Being far west in a zone, combined with being far north, also gives the latest winter sunrises outside Alaska: Williston, ND at 8:45 am, Minot, ND at 8:36 am, Marquette, MI at 8:34 am, Mandan, ND at 8:29 am, Escanaba, MI at 8:29 am. A town on the western edge of its zone trades darker mornings for lighter evenings, and the reverse on the eastern edge. How each time is converted to local clock time is in the methodology guide, and the November jump is in what falling back does to sunset.