July 23 Zodiac Sign: Cancer or Leo?

July 23 is a cusp birthday: in 32 of the 87 years from 1940 to 2026 the Sun entered Leo during July 23 (US Eastern Time), so people born that day are Cancer before the change time and Leo after it; in 55 years the change came earlier and the whole day was Leo. Your sign depends on the year and time of birth — see the table. Pacific Time: change during the day in 21 years, whole day Leo in 66, whole day Cancer in 0.

July 23 at a glance

• Possible Sun signs: Cancer up to the change minute, then Leo
• Elements: Cancer, Water; Leo, Fire
• Modalities: Cancer, Cardinal; Leo, Fixed
• Rulers: Cancer, the Moon; Leo, the Sun
• Data: NASA JPL Horizons, 1940–2030

Start with the birth year. If no clock time is printed for your coast, the Sun was already in Leo when July 23 began, and the whole date is Leo; a printed time cuts the date in two, Cancer for the hours before it and Leo from that minute to midnight. The coasts can disagree about the date itself. In 2011 New York saw Leo arrive at 00:12 EDT on July 23, while Los Angeles clocks read 21:12 PDT on July 22; the Pacific column therefore lists no time for 2011, and every July 23 birth in Los Angeles that year was a Leo. There is no Central or Mountain column, and for births on those clocks the birth chart is the place to look. The July zodiac signs page puts July 23 in the context of the whole month.

By New York and Los Angeles time alike, Cancer never held all of July 23 in 1940–2030, so an evening birth on this date has a Leo Sun whatever the year. The latest change of all, 14:05 EWT in 1943, is a War Time reading, like the 1942 and 1945 rows; War Time added an hour to US clocks from February 9, 1942 to September 30, 1945. Every year with a Pacific change on July 23 also has an Eastern one. The most recent July 23 change on Eastern clocks came in 2011 and on Pacific clocks in 1995; none of the computed years 2027–2030 has one.

Whenever the table prints a change time for the birth year, a July 23 baby's sign hangs on the minute of birth, read on local clocks. The birth chart settles it once you enter the date, the birthplace and the recorded hour to check your Sun sign with your birth time; no payment or account is involved. If the hour is unknown, the chart is calculated for 12:00 noon and marked as such.

Instead of relying on a single noon position, the calculator checks for any sign changes across your entire local birth date. If the Sun, the Moon, or another planet changes sign during that local day, the result shows each possible sign for that day rather than guessing a single one.

In astrology's seasonal grouping, northern summer has three signs (the same three make up winter south of the equator), and a July 23 birth lands in the first or the second of them. Modality is the tradition's name for that place in the season. Astrology is an interpretive tradition, not a scientifically validated method, and a sign's place in its season says nothing proven about a July 23 baby.

Cancer is the first of the summer three, entered by the Sun at the June solstice; that first place earns Cancer the name Cardinal, which astrology associates with action. Astrology makes the Moon Cancer's ruler and its planet of memories and moods; some astrologers add the home. Follow the sign further on the Cancer zodiac sign page.

Leo comes next and sits in the middle of those three, a seat the tradition names Fixed. The Sun is Leo's ruler. More on Leo itself waits on the Leo zodiac sign page.

FAQ

Is July 23 a Cancer–Leo cusp? It is, in the everyday sense of "cusp": Leo can take over from Cancer during this date. A Sun sign is never shared, though; at any single instant the Sun occupies Cancer or Leo. When the crossing came during July 23 on local clocks, Cancer covers the hours before it and Leo the hours after, so the local time of birth decides; in all other years 1940–2030, Eastern or Pacific, July 23 is Leo throughout.

What time does the Sun change sign on July 23? It has ranged across the morning and into the early afternoon. For birth years 1940–2026, Eastern changes on July 23 fell between 00:12 EDT (2011) and 14:05 EWT (1943), and Pacific ones between 00:23 PDT (1966) and 11:05 PWT (1943). In all remaining years the Sun was in Leo before July 23 started.

How this page was made

Sun-into-Leo moments for 1940–2030 were taken from NASA JPL Horizons and converted with IANA time zone data into local time for the Eastern and Pacific zones, the War Time hour included. For season places and rulers the sources are Wikipedia's "Triplicity," "Astrological sign" and "Zodiac"; for the Moon's themes, "Planets in astrology"; for the sentence on science, "Astrology and science." Astrolivo's editorial team, who prepared the July 23 guide, verified each line against these sources and gives sign meanings only as readings from the tradition.