What Time Zone Is California In?
All of California is on Pacific Time. That is Pacific Standard Time (PST, UTC−8) in winter and Pacific Daylight Time (PDT, UTC−7) from March to November. There is no second time zone anywhere in the state.
- Pacific Time8:39 AM
- Arizona8:39 AM
- Eastern Time11:39 AM
California compared with other places
- Los Angeles is 3 hours behind New York.
- Los Angeles is 2 hours behind Chicago and Dallas.
- Los Angeles is the same time as Phoenix right now. Arizona does not change its clocks, so the two match in summer and California is an hour behind in winter.
- Los Angeles is 3 hours ahead of Honolulu right now. The gap is 3 hours in summer and 2 in winter, because Hawaii does not change its clocks either.
- San Diego and Tijuana are on the same time all year. Mexico dropped daylight saving time for most of the country in 2022, but Baja California and some other border areas still change their clocks on the US schedule.
Does California still change its clocks?
Yes. In November 2018 voters passed Proposition 7 with 59.75% of the vote. It did not stop the clock changes. It repealed a 1949 measure that had fixed daylight saving time in state law and let the Legislature change the daylight saving period with a two-thirds vote, as long as the change is allowed by federal law.
Federal law lets a state stay on standard time all year, as Arizona and Hawaii do, but not on daylight time. A 2019 bill to put California on year-round daylight time once Congress allowed it died in committee in 2020. So California still springs forward and falls back:
- Sunday, November 1, 2026, 2:00 AM: clocks go back 1 hour.
- Sunday, March 14, 2027, 2:00 AM: clocks go forward 1 hour.
Time in California cities
| City | County | Zone | Now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | Los Angeles | Pacific (PDT) | 8:39 AM |
| San Diego | San Diego | Pacific (PDT) | 8:39 AM |
| San Jose | Santa Clara | Pacific (PDT) | 8:39 AM |
| San Francisco | San Francisco | Pacific (PDT) | 8:39 AM |
| Fresno | Fresno | Pacific (PDT) | 8:39 AM |
| Sacramento | Sacramento | Pacific (PDT) | 8:39 AM |
| South Lake Tahoe | El Dorado | Pacific (PDT) | 8:39 AM |
Every city and county in the state shows the same time. When you set a device, choose Pacific Time or America/Los_Angeles.
Other state guides
Arizona · Florida · Michigan · Tennessee · Texas · All 50 states
Not sure which zone your device is on? Check your own time zone.
Sources
- Wikipedia — Time in California
- Wikipedia — 2018 California Proposition 7
- Wikipedia — Time in Mexico
- 15 U.S.C. § 260a — Advancement of time (daylight saving period)
- 49 CFR Part 71 — Standard time zone boundaries
Last checked October 21, 2026.