Research · Latitude
Your birthplace sets the odds
The same 62 million births, moved north and south. The rising sign stretches and squeezes, and the rarest big three changes with it.
Alexander Jamieson, A Celestial Atlas, 1822 · US Naval Observatory Library
At a glance
The further from the equator you are born, the bigger the gap: 2.3× between most and least common big three at Miami's latitude, 3.0× at 40°N, 5.2× at London's, 12.0× at Anchorage's.
- Miami (25.8°N)
- 2.3×rarest: Capricorn / Leo / Pisces
- 40°N (NYC, Denver)
- 3.0×rarest: Capricorn / Leo / Pisces
- London latitude (51.5°N)
- 5.2×rarest: Capricorn / Libra / Pisces
- Anchorage (61.2°N)
- 12.0×rarest: Capricorn / Libra / Pisces
Check your big threeYour exact odds, out of 1,728.
The lead
The horizon is tilted differently everywhere
Try this today
- Find the row closest to your birthplace in the table below.
- Moved as a kid? Your rising sign uses where you were born, not where you grew up.
Your Sun and Moon do not care where you were born. At a given instant they sit in the same sign for everyone on Earth. Your rising sign is the one that does.
The rising sign is whatever part of the zodiac is crossing the eastern horizon. Near the equator the zodiac comes up at a fairly steady pace, so each sign gets close to two hours a day. Move north and the zodiac tilts against the horizon: some signs swing up almost sideways in a hurry while others drag.
In numbers: at Miami's latitude, Aries rising covers about 89 minutes of the day. At 40°N, 72. At London's latitude, 53. At Anchorage's, just 25. Meanwhile the signs from Leo to Scorpio swell to fill the gap.
That is why the same set of births produces such different rarity tables. We ran all 1,972,440 birth moments at seven latitudes.
The sky behind it
Method. We did not survey anyone and we did not roll random numbers. We stepped through every calendar day from 2000-01-01 to 2014-12-31 (5,479 days) and every four-minute slot of local clock time within each day, 1,972,440 birth moments in all. Each moment is weighted by the number of babies the US Social Security Administration recorded for that date (62.2 million births), divided evenly across the day. For each moment the Sun and Moon come from NASA JPL's DE442 ephemeris (tropical zodiac, geocentric) and the rising sign from the local sidereal time at the stated latitude.
What it assumes. Births spread evenly through the 24 hours. Real hospitals have a daytime bulge (scheduled C-sections and inductions), which nudges rising-sign pairings a little; our earlier rising-sign study found it moves no single rising sign by more than 0.03 points. The calendar is the US one for every latitude, so the non-US rows are "the same births, born further north or south", not a census of those countries.
| Rising | Miami | Los Angeles | 40°N | Seattle | 51.5°N (London) | Anchorage | 34°S (Sydney) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aries | 6.19 | 5.56 | 5.03 | 4.19 | 3.65 | 1.74 | 9.93 |
| Taurus | 7.03 | 6.51 | 6.05 | 5.29 | 4.78 | 2.69 | 10.10 |
| Gemini | 8.42 | 8.19 | 8.00 | 7.65 | 7.40 | 6.11 | 9.68 |
| Cancer | 9.46 | 9.69 | 9.88 | 10.23 | 10.48 | 11.77 | 8.20 |
| Leo | 9.58 | 10.11 | 10.57 | 11.32 | 11.83 | 13.92 | 6.52 |
| Virgo | 9.32 | 9.95 | 10.48 | 11.32 | 11.86 | 13.77 | 5.58 |
| Libra | 9.32 | 9.95 | 10.48 | 11.32 | 11.86 | 13.77 | 5.58 |
| Scorpio | 9.58 | 10.11 | 10.56 | 11.32 | 11.83 | 13.92 | 6.52 |
| Sagittarius | 9.46 | 9.69 | 9.88 | 10.23 | 10.48 | 11.77 | 8.20 |
| Capricorn | 8.42 | 8.19 | 7.99 | 7.65 | 7.40 | 6.11 | 9.68 |
| Aquarius | 7.03 | 6.51 | 6.05 | 5.29 | 4.78 | 2.69 | 10.10 |
| Pisces | 6.19 | 5.56 | 5.03 | 4.19 | 3.65 | 1.74 | 9.93 |
The rarest, place by place
The rarest big three moves with you
Every northern site agrees on a Capricorn Sun for the rarest combination, because that comes from the birth calendar. What changes is the rest.
At Miami's latitude the rarest is Capricorn Sun, Leo Moon, Pisces rising (1 in 2,974). At 40°N, Capricorn Sun, Leo Moon, Pisces rising (1 in 3,537). At London's latitude, Capricorn Sun, Libra Moon, Pisces rising (1 in 5,241). At Anchorage's, Capricorn Sun, Libra Moon, Pisces rising, about 1 in 10,537, the rarest number anywhere in our data.
The most common combination grows too: at Anchorage's latitude it is Virgo Sun, Scorpio Moon, Scorpio rising, about 1 in 878.
South of the equator, the order of rising signs runs the other way. At 34° south the rarest rising signs are Libra and Virgo and the most common Taurus and Aquarius. Running the US birth calendar there, the rarest big three becomes Capricorn Sun, Libra Moon, Virgo rising (1 in 3,344). A real Australian count would also shift the Sun part, since Australia's birth peak falls in different months; see the country page.
The sky behind it
| Latitude | Rarest | Odds | Most common | Odds | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miami (25.8°) | Capricorn / Leo / Pisces | 1 in 2,974 | Leo / Taurus / Sagittarius | 1 in 1,296 | 2.3× |
| Los Angeles (34.1°) | Capricorn / Leo / Aries | 1 in 3,117 | Leo / Taurus / Scorpio | 1 in 1,222 | 2.5× |
| 40°N (40°) | Capricorn / Leo / Pisces | 1 in 3,537 | Leo / Taurus / Scorpio | 1 in 1,161 | 3.0× |
| Seattle (47.6°) | Capricorn / Leo / Aries | 1 in 4,177 | Leo / Taurus / Libra | 1 in 1,088 | 3.8× |
| 51.5°N (London) (51.5°) | Capricorn / Libra / Pisces | 1 in 5,241 | Leo / Gemini / Leo | 1 in 1,008 | 5.2× |
| Anchorage (61.2°) | Capricorn / Libra / Pisces | 1 in 10,537 | Virgo / Scorpio / Scorpio | 1 in 878 | 12.0× |
| 34°S (Sydney) (-33.9°) | Capricorn / Libra / Virgo | 1 in 3,344 | Leo / Gemini / Aquarius | 1 in 1,213 | 2.8× |
The fair zone
Closer to the equator, closer to fair
If you want your big three odds to be close to the textbook 1 in 1,728, be born near the equator. At Miami's latitude the slowest rising sign covers 9.58% of the day and the fastest 6.19%, not far from the even 8.33%.
At the equator itself, rising signs would be nearly even and the only real unevenness left would be the Sun's birth calendar and the Moon's small wiggle. Our rising-sign study shows the equator band in detail.
It also means that the same chart looks rarer the further north you go, even though nothing about it changed. Rarity is a property of a place and a population, not of a person.
Try it
Move your big three around the map
Pick a Sun, Moon and rising. The bars show how common that exact combination is at seven latitudes, from Miami to Anchorage and down to 34° south.
Capricorn Sun, Leo Moon, Aries rising is most common at 34°S (Sydney) and rarest at Anchorage.
From 1 in 1,586 to 1 in 9,901, a 6.2× swing from birthplace alone.
More to read
Shorter reads. Each opens in place.
A note on time
Why birth time matters most at high latitude
When a sign rises in about 25 minutes, a birth time that is off by half an hour can change your rising sign. If you were born far north, double-check the time on your birth certificate.
Continue readingShow less
No birth time?
No birth time, no rising sign
Without a time you can still see which rising signs were possible on your birthday, and how long each lasted where you were born.
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Quick answers
Does where you are born change your rising sign?
Yes. The rising sign depends on the exact time and on the latitude and longitude of the birthplace. Sun and Moon signs do not depend on place.
What is the rarest big three in the UK?
Running US-calendar births at London's latitude, Capricorn Sun, Libra Moon, Pisces rising, about 1 in 5,241. In England and Wales, as in the US, Capricorn is the rarest Sun sign.
What is the rarest rising sign in Australia?
At Sydney's latitude, Libra and Virgo rising are the rarest, each about 5.58% of the day. The order is the mirror of the northern hemisphere.
Why is Aries rising so rare in Alaska?
At high northern latitudes Aries and Pisces rise almost along the horizon and cross it quickly: about 25 minutes a day at Anchorage's latitude, against about 89 in Miami.
Is my big three rarer if I was born further north?
If it includes a fast-rising sign (Aries, Pisces, Taurus, Aquarius), yes. If it includes a slow-rising one (Leo to Scorpio), it becomes more common.
How was this calculated?
The same weighted set of US births 2000 to 2014 was computed at seven latitudes, each moment's rising sign from local sidereal time, with Sun and Moon from NASA JPL DE442.
