Current PST Time (Pacific Time)
The current time on the US West Coast is 01:54:55 on Saturday, September 19, 2026. The zone is on PDT (UTC-7) right now, so strictly speaking this is Pacific Daylight Time, not PST.
Jump to: PST or PDT?· Converter· Where it applies· The exceptions· Tech & markets· Working across zones· FAQ
Saturday, September 19, 2026
01:54:55
PDT (UTC-7)
In force right now
PDT · UTC-7
Daylight saving
Active
Clocks change in
—
Pacific Time clocks go back one hour on Sunday, November 1, 2026, switching to PST (UTC-8).
Pacific Time and Your Local Time
Your Time Zone
Detecting…
Your Local Time
01:54:55
Difference
—
Enable JavaScript to compare Los Angeles with your own clock automatically.
Pacific Time Converter
Pick any Pacific time — a meeting, a market open, a call — and read it off in your own zone and other major cities. For any other pair of zones, use the full time zone converter.
- Your local time
- —
- Denver (Mountain)
- 2:54 AM
- Chicago (Central)
- 3:54 AM
- New York (Eastern)
- 4:54 AM
- London
- 9:54 AM
- Berlin
- 10:54 AM
- Bengaluru
- 2:24 PM
- Singapore
- 4:54 PM
- Sydney
- 6:54 PM
PST Is Only Half the Story
Pacific Standard Time is UTC-8, and the West Coast only uses it between early November and mid-March. The rest of the year — Sunday, March 8, 2026 to Sunday, November 1, 2026 in 2026 — California, Washington and Oregon run on Pacific Daylight Time, UTC-7. Writing "PST" in June puts your meeting an hour off.
The reliable shorthand is PT. Every company headquartered on the West Coast uses it for exactly this reason: an event announced for "10:00 AM PT" needs no seasonal footnote, while "10:00 AM PST" announced in July is a small puzzle for every recipient.
One thing that never changes is the gap to the East Coast. Both zones shift on the same dates, so Pacific is three hours behind Eastern all year — 9:00 AM in Los Angeles is noon in New York, in January and in July alike. The same holds for the two-hour gap to Central and the one-hour gap to Mountain. It is only the zones that do not change clocks that move relative to Pacific, and those are the ones worth knowing about.
Pacific Time Right Now, Next to Its Neighbours
Los Angeles
01:54
Pacific
San Francisco
01:54
Pacific
Seattle
01:54
Pacific
Vancouver
01:54
Pacific (Canada)
Tijuana
01:54
Pacific (Mexico)
Whitehorse
01:54
Yukon — no DST
Phoenix
01:54
Arizona — no DST
New York
04:54
Eastern
Where Pacific Time Applies
| Region | Detail |
|---|---|
| California | The entire state, all year. Pacific Time is effectively "California time" to the rest of the world. |
| Washington | Statewide, including Seattle and the whole Puget Sound corridor. |
| Oregon | Almost all of it — but Malheur County in the far east runs on Mountain Time with neighbouring Idaho. |
| Nevada | Statewide including Las Vegas and Reno, except West Wendover on the Utah border, which keeps Mountain Time. |
| Idaho (panhandle) | The northern strip above the Salmon River is Pacific; the rest of Idaho, Boise included, is Mountain. |
| British Columbia | Most of the province, Vancouver and Victoria included. The far southeast corner sits on Mountain Time. |
| Baja California, Mexico | Tijuana and Mexicali keep Pacific Time and still change clocks with California — see below. |
Around 53 million people live on Pacific Time, far fewer than the roughly 150 million on Eastern Time. Its influence comes from what is based there rather than from headcount: the technology industry, the film industry, and the ports that handle most trans-Pacific trade.
Three Exceptions That Break the Usual Arithmetic
Arizona does not change its clocks
Arizona stays on Mountain Standard Time (UTC-7) year-round. That means Phoenix matches Denver in winter but matches Los Angeles in summer — the same clock reading as Pacific for two thirds of the year, despite being a Mountain state. The Navajo Nation within Arizona does observe daylight saving, so the state contains an island that disagrees with the state around it.
Yukon left daylight saving in 2020
Whitehorse stopped changing clocks in March 2020 and settled permanently on UTC-7. So Yukon now matches Pacific time in summer and sits an hour ahead of it in winter. Anyone who learned that "Yukon is on Pacific time" before 2020 is now wrong for half the year.
Baja California kept daylight saving when the rest of Mexico dropped it
Mexico abolished daylight saving nationwide in October 2022 — except in municipalities along the United States border, which were exempted so that cross-border commuting, manufacturing shifts and trade schedules would not drift apart twice a year. Tijuana and Mexicali therefore still change clocks in step with California, while Mexico City no longer does. See our CST page for what that did to Central Time.
Why So Much of Tech Runs on Pacific Time
| What | When | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Nasdaq & NYSE opening bell | 6:30 AM PT | The markets run on Eastern time, so the West Coast trading day starts before dawn and ends at 1:00 PM. |
| Apple and Google keynotes | 10:00 AM PT | The default slot for Silicon Valley launch events, which is 1:00 PM in New York and 6:00 PM in London. |
| Cloud status pages & incident reports | Usually PT | AWS, Google Cloud, GitHub and npm headquarter their status timelines on Pacific time, so post-mortems need converting before they line up with your own logs. |
| Product launches & App Store releases | Often midnight PT | A "midnight release" is normally midnight Pacific, which is 3:00 AM on the East Coast and already mid-morning in Europe. |
The West Coast trading day starts at 6:30 AM
Because US markets quote everything in Eastern time, a Pacific-based trader's session runs 6:30 AM to 1:00 PM. Earnings released "after the bell" land at 1:00 PM PT, and pre-market news breaks before 6:00 AM. It is the clearest everyday consequence of a country that standardised its financial infrastructure on the opposite coast.
Working With Pacific Time From Elsewhere
| Zone | Gap | Shared 9–5 window | In practice |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York (Eastern) | 3 hours ahead | 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM PT | The East Coast is already at lunch when the West Coast logs on. |
| London | 8 hours ahead | 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM PT | A single hour. In practice London takes early evening calls or the West Coast starts at 7:00 AM. |
| Berlin (Central Europe) | 9 hours ahead | Effectively none | 9:00 AM PT is 6:00 PM in Berlin — the last slot of the European day. |
| Bengaluru (India) | 12.5 hours ahead | None during business hours | 9:00 AM PT is 9:30 PM in India. Teams meet at the edges: 8:00 AM PT or 8:00 PM PT. |
| Sydney | 17–19 hours ahead | Next calendar day | Afternoon in California is already tomorrow morning in Australia. |
Pacific Time sits at the far western end of the working world, which makes it the hardest US zone to schedule from Europe or Asia. The reliable pattern is to give up on the middle of the day entirely: Europe takes the West Coast's early morning, and Asia takes its late evening.
Pacific Time FAQ
Is it PST or PDT right now?
The US West Coast is currently on PDT (UTC-7). That is daylight saving time, so "PST" is the wrong abbreviation today — clocks return to PST on Sunday, November 1, 2026.
What is the difference between PST, PDT, and PT?
PST (Pacific Standard Time) is UTC-8 and runs in winter. PDT (Pacific Daylight Time) is UTC-7 and runs in summer, covering roughly two thirds of the year. PT (Pacific Time) means whichever is currently in force, and is the correct thing to write when you do not want to check the date first.
How many hours behind is PST from EST?
Three hours, always. Both coasts change clocks on the same dates, so the gap never varies: 9:00 AM in Los Angeles is noon in New York in January and in July alike.
What is PST in UTC?
PST is UTC-8 and PDT is UTC-7. To convert a Pacific reading to UTC, add 8 hours in winter or 7 in summer — 9:00 AM PST is 17:00 UTC, and 9:00 AM PDT is 16:00 UTC.
Does all of California use Pacific Time?
Yes. California is entirely on Pacific Time with no internal split, which is unusual — most states that span a zone boundary have at least a few counties on the other side.
Why does Yukon no longer change its clocks?
Yukon stopped observing daylight saving in March 2020 and stayed on UTC-7 permanently. The practical result is that Whitehorse matches Pacific time in summer and is one hour ahead of it in winter, which is the opposite of what most people assume when they see "Yukon" next to British Columbia on a map.
Does Tijuana still change clocks even though Mexico abolished daylight saving?
Yes. Mexico ended daylight saving nationally in October 2022, but municipalities along the US border were exempted so that cross-border trade and commuting stay aligned. Tijuana and Mexicali therefore still spring forward and fall back with California, while Mexico City no longer does.
Did California vote to stop changing clocks?
Voters approved Proposition 7 in 2018, which authorised the legislature to move the state to year-round daylight saving time. It has not taken effect: the change still needs a two-thirds vote of the legislature and, because the Uniform Time Act reserves permanent daylight time to federal law, an act of Congress as well.
When do Pacific Time clocks change?
In 2026, clocks spring forward on Sunday, March 8, 2026 at 2:00 AM and fall back on Sunday, November 1, 2026 at 2:00 AM. Pacific changes three hours after the East Coast does, because each US zone switches at 2:00 AM of its own local clock rather than at a shared instant.
Which time zone identifier should I use in code?
Use America/Los_Angeles. Avoid the bare PST identifier — where it exists at all it is a fixed UTC-8 zone with no daylight saving, so it drifts an hour away from the real West Coast for most of the year. America/Vancouver and America/Tijuana follow the same rules for Canada and Baja California.