The United States spans six standard time zones in the 50 states — Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific, Alaska and Hawaii–Aleutian — plus three more in its territories. On a typical afternoon, it can be 5 p.m. in New York, 2 p.m. in Los Angeles and 11 a.m. in Honolulu. Most of the country moves its clocks forward for daylight saving time, but Arizona and Hawaii do not.
Where these times apply
All 50 states and Washington, D.C. US territories in the Caribbean and the Pacific keep their own clocks and appear separately below.
Daylight saving time in the US
Clocks go forward one hour at 2:00 a.m. local time on the second Sunday of March and back on the first Sunday of November. Each zone switches at its own local 2 a.m., so for a few hours on those nights the gaps between zones are briefly uneven.
Arizona (except the Navajo Nation) and Hawaii keep standard time all year, as do Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam and American Samoa. That is why Phoenix matches Denver in winter but Los Angeles in summer.
States split between two time zones
More than a dozen states are divided between two zones. For example, most of Texas is Central but El Paso is Mountain; most of Florida is Eastern but the western Panhandle is Central; Kentucky and Tennessee are split east–west; and a handful of Indiana counties near Chicago and Evansville use Central Time while the rest of the state uses Eastern.
Business hours across the country
A 9-to-5 day on the East Coast overlaps with the West Coast only from noon to 5 p.m. Eastern. Teams that span New York and Los Angeles often schedule calls between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Eastern; with Hawaii included, the window shrinks to the early afternoon Eastern.
Clock changes in 2026 and 2027
| Zone | 2026 changes | 2027 changes |
|---|---|---|
| Eastern Time | 8 Mar, 02:00 → UTC−41 Nov, 02:00 → UTC−5 | 14 Mar, 02:00 → UTC−47 Nov, 02:00 → UTC−5 |
| Central Time | 8 Mar, 02:00 → UTC−51 Nov, 02:00 → UTC−6 | 14 Mar, 02:00 → UTC−57 Nov, 02:00 → UTC−6 |
| Mountain Time | 8 Mar, 02:00 → UTC−61 Nov, 02:00 → UTC−7 | 14 Mar, 02:00 → UTC−67 Nov, 02:00 → UTC−7 |
| Pacific Time | 8 Mar, 02:00 → UTC−71 Nov, 02:00 → UTC−8 | 14 Mar, 02:00 → UTC−77 Nov, 02:00 → UTC−8 |
| Alaska Time | 8 Mar, 02:00 → UTC−81 Nov, 02:00 → UTC−9 | 14 Mar, 02:00 → UTC−87 Nov, 02:00 → UTC−9 |
| Hawaii–Aleutian Time — Aleutian Islands | 8 Mar, 02:00 → UTC−91 Nov, 02:00 → UTC−10 | 14 Mar, 02:00 → UTC−97 Nov, 02:00 → UTC−10 |
No clock changes in 2026 or 2027: Mountain Time — Arizona (no DST); Hawaii Time; Atlantic Time — Puerto Rico & US Virgin Islands; Chamorro Time — Guam & Northern Mariana Islands; Samoa Time — American Samoa.