Whether you are scheduling a video call across the country, driving across state lines on a road trip, or setting up a device clock, knowing your exact time zone keeps you on schedule. This page detects your current time zone, shows your live local time down to the second, and compares your clock with major cities around the world.
1. How US & Major World Time Zones Work
The world is divided into 24 main time zones so that 12:00 noon happens roughly when the sun is highest in the sky for each region. Every time zone is measured by how many hours ahead (+) or behind (-) it is compared to UTC (Coordinated Universal Time, the global reference clock based in Greenwich, London).
In the contiguous United States and Canada, there are four main time zones moving from east to west—each one hour behind the next: Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific. Alaska and Hawaii sit further west in their own zones.
| Time Zone Name | Standard Time (Winter) | Daylight Saving (Summer) | Major Cities in This Zone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eastern Time (ET) | EST (UTC-5) | EDT (UTC-4) | New York, Miami, Atlanta, Washington D.C., Toronto |
| Central Time (CT) | CST (UTC-6) | CDT (UTC-5) | Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Nashville, Minneapolis |
| Mountain Time (MT) | MST (UTC-7) | MDT (UTC-6) | Denver, Salt Lake City, Albuquerque, Boise, Calgary |
| Arizona (Mountain - No DST) | MST (UTC-7) | Stays on MST (UTC-7) | Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff (except Navajo Nation) |
| Pacific Time (PT) | PST (UTC-8) | PDT (UTC-7) | Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Las Vegas, Vancouver |
| Alaska Time (AKT) | AKST (UTC-9) | AKDT (UTC-8) | Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau |
| Hawaii-Aleutian Time | HST (UTC-10) | Stays on HST (UTC-10) | Honolulu, Maui, Kauai |
| UK / Greenwich Time | GMT (UTC+0) | BST (UTC+1) | London, Dublin, Lisbon |
| Central European Time | CET (UTC+1) | CEST (UTC+2) | Paris, Berlin, Rome, Madrid, Amsterdam |
| Japan / Korea Time | JST / KST (UTC+9) | No DST (UTC+9) | Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul |
2. Daylight Saving Time: Who Changes Clocks and Who Doesn't?
In most of the US and Canada, clocks "spring forward" one hour on the second Sunday in March and "fall back" one hour on the first Sunday in November. In Europe, the change happens on the last Sunday in March and the last Sunday in October.
However, not everywhere participates:
• Places in the US that never change clocks: Hawaii and most of Arizona (plus Puerto Rico, Guam, and the US Virgin Islands) stay on Standard Time all year round. Because of this, Phoenix is on the same time as Denver in the winter, but matches Los Angeles in the summer!
• Most of Asia, Africa, and South America: Countries like Japan, China, India, Singapore, and most equatorial nations do not use Daylight Saving Time at all.
3. States Split Between Two Time Zones
Thirteen US states are split across two different time zones. For example, most of Florida is on Eastern Time, but the Florida Panhandle west of the Apalachicola River (including Pensacola and Panama City) is on Central Time. Parts of Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Michigan, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Idaho, Oregon, and Alaska also split across two zones. If you are traveling near a border, clicking "Use Precise GPS" on the map will tell you which side of the time zone line you are currently on.