What Time Zone Am I In?

Read straight from your device's settings. Nothing is sent anywhere and no location permission is needed.

Your device is set to

Checking your device…

Abbreviation
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UTC offset
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Daylight saving
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Next clock change
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Current time in US time zones

Arizona is listed apart from Mountain Time because it stays on standard time all year. See all US time zones and the zone for each state.

What your result means

Your device stores its time zone as an IANA name such as America/Chicago. The city in the name is just a label for a region that has always kept the same clock rules. America/Chicago covers Houston, Nashville and Winnipeg too, so it does not mean the device thinks you are in Chicago.

The abbreviation (CST, CDT, PST…) tells you the zone and the season. The UTC offset is the number of hours ahead of or behind Coordinated Universal Time. When you schedule something across zones, the offset is the part that has to match.

If the answer looks wrong

This page shows the time zone your device is set to. When that setting is wrong, the answer here is wrong in the same way. The usual causes are:

A VPN does not change your answer here. It changes your IP address, which some websites use to guess your location, but your device's time zone setting stays the same. That is also why a site that relies on IP location can disagree with this one while you are on a VPN.

Turn on automatic time zone

Reload this page after changing the setting.

Abbreviations and offsets

In winter the US East Coast is on EST, Eastern Standard Time (UTC−5). From March to November it is on EDT, Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4). Many people say "EST" all year, which is an hour off for most of the year. Saying "Eastern Time" or "ET" avoids the problem. Right now Eastern Time is on EDT.

Some abbreviations mean more than one zone:

AbbreviationCan mean
CSTCentral Standard Time (UTC−6), China Standard Time (UTC+8), Cuba Standard Time (UTC−5)
ISTIndia Standard Time (UTC+5:30), Irish Standard Time (UTC+1), Israel Standard Time (UTC+2)
BSTBritish Summer Time (UTC+1), Bangladesh Standard Time (UTC+6)

When the abbreviation could be read two ways, give the offset or a city with it, as in "3 pm CST (Chicago)".

US time zones

ZoneStandardDaylightExample cities
Eastern TimeUTC−05:00UTC−04:00New York, Atlanta, Miami
Central TimeUTC−06:00UTC−05:00Chicago, Houston, Nashville
Mountain TimeUTC−07:00UTC−06:00Denver, Salt Lake City, El Paso
Arizona (Mountain Standard)UTC−07:00not usedPhoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff
Pacific TimeUTC−08:00UTC−07:00Los Angeles, Seattle, Las Vegas
Alaska TimeUTC−09:00UTC−08:00Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau
Hawaii-Aleutian TimeUTC−10:00not usedHonolulu, Hilo

US territories add Atlantic Time (UTC−4, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands), Samoa Time (UTC−11) and Chamorro Time (UTC+10, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands). None of them use daylight saving time.

States with more than one time zone

14 states are split between two zones. In most of them a small corner differs from the rest of the state.

Places that skip daylight saving time

Most of the US moves its clocks twice a year. These places do not:

Next clock change

Your zone: checking…

In the US, daylight saving time starts at 2:00 a.m. local time on the second Sunday in March and ends at 2:00 a.m. on the first Sunday in November. Each zone changes at its own local 2:00 a.m., so the switch rolls across the country over several hours.

How this page works

Your browser already knows the time zone your device is set to. This page asks for it with the standard JavaScript Intl API and uses the time zone rules built into the browser to work out the offset, the abbreviation and the next change. No location is used and nothing is sent to a server.

The Check against my precise location button is optional. Your browser asks for permission first. If you allow it, your coordinates are matched to a time zone map that runs inside the page. The coordinates are not sent anywhere. The map is compressed to keep it small, so within a few miles of a zone line it can pick the zone next door.

Clocks on this page follow your device's clock. If your device clock is off, the times will be off by the same amount, but the zones and offsets stay correct.

Questions

Is my time zone the same as my location?

Usually, but not always. The answer above is your device setting. If you have travelled with automatic time zone turned off, or you are close to a zone line, the setting and your real location can disagree. The precise location check shows both.

Why does my phone switch zones near a state line?

Phones often take the time from the network. Near a zone line the strongest tower may be across the line, so the clock can jump back and forth while you drive. In Tennessee this happens on I-40 toward Knoxville and on I-24 toward Chattanooga.

What is the difference between UTC and GMT?

For setting a clock they are the same time. UTC is the modern time standard kept by atomic clocks. GMT is the time zone used in winter by the UK and some other countries. In summer the UK moves to BST, which is UTC+1.

Does this work outside the US?

Yes. The answer card and the search work for every zone your browser knows, which is every zone in the IANA time zone database. The guides further down this site focus on US states.

Sources