What time is it in United States?
GMT-5 / GMT-4 · America/New_York
Back to United StatesNow in Washington, D.C.
GMT-5 UTC-05:00
UTC-05:00
UTC-04:00 in summerEastern Standard Time
The United States and its territories span nine standard time zones, from Atlantic time in Puerto Rico to Chamorro time in Guam, and the contiguous states alone cross four: Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific. Most of the country moves its clocks forward on the second Sunday in March and back on the first Sunday in November. Hawaii and most of Arizona keep standard time all year, and the times shown here are those of the Eastern zone, which includes Washington, D.C.
Today
Daylight in Washington, D.C. today
DayLive
12:00
- Sunrise
- 07:02First light 06:36
- Sunset
- 18:54Last light 19:20
- Day length
- 11 h 51 min−3 min on yesterday
- Solar noon
- 12:58Sun at 49°, its highest
Plan a call
Find an hour that works in United States and elsewhere
The two rows are the same day, hour for hour. Pick a city, then an hour, and the line between the rows marks the office hours both sides share.
Time difference
How far United States is from other places
Neighbours
- CanadaOttawaSame time
- MexicoMexico City−2 h
Around the world
- London+5 h
- Los Angeles−3 h
- São Paulo+1 h
- Moscow+7 h
- Dubai+8 h
- Delhi+9:30 h
- Beijing+12 h
- Tokyo+13 h
- Sydney+14 h
Clock changes
When the clocks change in United States
Next change
Sunday, 1 November 2026
Clocks go back one hour: at 02:00 it becomes 01:00 GMT-5, UTC-05:00. The night is an hour longer.
| Year | Clocks go forward | Clocks go back |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 8 March 02:00 → 03:00 | 1 November 02:00 → 01:00 |
| 2027 | 14 March 02:00 → 03:00 | 7 November 02:00 → 01:00 |
| 2028 | 12 March 02:00 → 03:00 | 5 November 02:00 → 01:00 |
| 2029 | 11 March 02:00 → 03:00 | 4 November 02:00 → 01:00 |
| 2030 | 10 March 02:00 → 03:00 | 3 November 02:00 → 01:00 |
Four standard time zones for the contiguous states were introduced by the railroads at noon on 18 November 1883, after the weather service chief Cleveland Abbe had used them for his stations. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 made each state choose one rule for its whole territory, with summer time running from the last Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October. Amendments in 1986 and 2005 moved the dates, and the Energy Policy Act of 2005 extended summer time by a month from 2007, to the present second Sunday in March and first Sunday in November. Indiana put the whole state on daylight saving time from 2 April 2006. The Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight saving time permanent nationwide, passed the Senate in March 2022 but was never voted on by the House.
Daylight
Sunrise and sunset through the year in Washington, D.C.
- Sunrise
- 07:02
- Sunset
- 18:54
- Daylight
- 11 h 51 min
- Change
- −3 min
Longest day of 2026: 18 June, 14 h 54 min.
Computed for 38.90, -77.04 at sea level with the NOAA solar equations, to the nearest minute, taking no account of hills.
Writing the time
- Clock
- 12-hour
- Short date
- 3/5/26
- Long date
- March 5, 2026
- Week starts
- Sunday
- Zone names
- GMT-5 / GMT-4
- Time zone database
- New York
History
How the clocks in United States got here
- 1890
- To 1917.UTC-05:00 all year, no summer time.
- 1918
- To 1941.UTC-05:00 in winter, UTC-04:00 in summer time.
- 1942
- UTC-05:00 in winter, UTC-04:00 in summer time.
- 1943
- To 1944.Summer time kept through the winter: UTC-04:00 all year.
- 1945
- UTC-05:00 in winter, UTC-04:00 in summer time.
- 1946
- To today.UTC-05:00 in winter, UTC-04:00 in summer time.
From the IANA time zone database, America/New_York, as the build machine carries it.
Common questions
Questions about the time in United States
How many time zones does the United States have?
Nine standard zones cover the states, territories and other possessions: Atlantic, Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific, Alaska, Hawaii-Aleutian, Samoa and Chamorro. The contiguous states use four of them. Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands keep Atlantic time at UTC−4, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands Chamorro time at UTC+10, and American Samoa Samoa time at UTC−11.
When do the clocks change in the United States in 2026?
Clocks went forward at 02:00 on Sunday 8 March 2026 and go back at 02:00 on Sunday 1 November 2026. In 2027 the dates are Sunday 14 March and Sunday 7 November. The rule, set by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and used since 2007, is the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in November, with each change made at 02:00 local time.
Which states do not observe daylight saving time?
Hawaii and Arizona keep standard time all year, and so do Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands on Atlantic time; the Samoa and Chamorro zones have no summer time at all. Arizona has an exception inside it: the Navajo Nation changes its clocks across its whole territory, including the Arizona part, while the Hopi Nation, surrounded by Navajo land, does not.
Who decides the time zones in the United States?
Federal law, 15 U.S.C. §260, defines the standard zones and the dates of daylight saving time, but whether to observe it depends on state or tribal law. The Department of Transportation regulates the zone boundaries in coordination with the states, and it announced in September 2022 that it would make the first single official map of them.
Will the United States make daylight saving time permanent?
Not so far. The Sunshine Protection Act, which would keep daylight saving time all year across the country, passed the Senate in March 2022, but the House of Representatives never voted on it. Under the Uniform Time Act of 1966 each state chose one of two rules for its whole territory: standard time with summer time, as most do, or standard time all year, as Hawaii and Arizona do.
How did the United States get standard time?
The railroads created it. Each station had kept its own local solar time, and the weather service chief Cleveland Abbe had used four standard zones for his stations. The railroads adopted four zones for the contiguous states at noon on 18 November 1883. In October 1884 the International Meridian Conference in Washington, D.C. chose Greenwich as the prime meridian, and every American zone has been counted from it since.
United States has 29 zones; this page reads the capital’s. All figures