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EST: Eastern Standard Time

EST is UTC−5: 5 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time. The eastern United States and Canada in winter, from the first Sunday of November to the second Sunday of March. Panama, Jamaica, and Mexico’s Quintana Roo (Cancún) use UTC−5 all year.

Current time at UTC−5
EST9:08 AMThu, Oct 22
UTC2:08 PMThu, Oct 22

Calculated from your device clock. Shown at the fixed EST offset, whether or not a particular place is using it today.

Is EST in use right now?

New York switches between EST and EDT during the year.

Next change in New York: Sunday, November 1, 2026, to UTC−5 (EST). Based on time zone rules at build time.

Full name
Eastern Standard Time
UTC offset
UTC−5ISO 8601: -05:00
Type
Standard (winter) time
Summer counterpart
EDT · UTC−4
Example IANA zone
America/New_York

Where and when EST is used in 2026

Calculated for the cities in our directory from the IANA time zone database. Dates are local; each change happens in the early morning of the date shown.

CityIANA zoneOn EST (UTC−5)
New YorkAmerica/New_YorkJan 1 – Mar 8 and Nov 1 – Dec 31
TorontoAmerica/TorontoJan 1 – Mar 8 and Nov 1 – Dec 31

EST conversion table

Every hour of the day in EST, converted at fixed offsets. To convert local time in a specific city, use the city instead: its offset may change with the date.

EST (UTC−5)UTC (UTC+0)PST (UTC−8)GMT (UTC+0)CET (UTC+1)IST (UTC+5:30)JST (UTC+9)
12:00 AM5:00 AM9:00 PMprevious day5:00 AM6:00 AM10:30 AM2:00 PM
1:00 AM6:00 AM10:00 PMprevious day6:00 AM7:00 AM11:30 AM3:00 PM
2:00 AM7:00 AM11:00 PMprevious day7:00 AM8:00 AM12:30 PM4:00 PM
3:00 AM8:00 AM12:00 AM8:00 AM9:00 AM1:30 PM5:00 PM
4:00 AM9:00 AM1:00 AM9:00 AM10:00 AM2:30 PM6:00 PM
5:00 AM10:00 AM2:00 AM10:00 AM11:00 AM3:30 PM7:00 PM
6:00 AM11:00 AM3:00 AM11:00 AM12:00 PM4:30 PM8:00 PM
7:00 AM12:00 PM4:00 AM12:00 PM1:00 PM5:30 PM9:00 PM
8:00 AM1:00 PM5:00 AM1:00 PM2:00 PM6:30 PM10:00 PM
9:00 AM2:00 PM6:00 AM2:00 PM3:00 PM7:30 PM11:00 PM
10:00 AM3:00 PM7:00 AM3:00 PM4:00 PM8:30 PM12:00 AMnext day
11:00 AM4:00 PM8:00 AM4:00 PM5:00 PM9:30 PM1:00 AMnext day
12:00 PM5:00 PM9:00 AM5:00 PM6:00 PM10:30 PM2:00 AMnext day
1:00 PM6:00 PM10:00 AM6:00 PM7:00 PM11:30 PM3:00 AMnext day
2:00 PM7:00 PM11:00 AM7:00 PM8:00 PM12:30 AMnext day4:00 AMnext day
3:00 PM8:00 PM12:00 PM8:00 PM9:00 PM1:30 AMnext day5:00 AMnext day
4:00 PM9:00 PM1:00 PM9:00 PM10:00 PM2:30 AMnext day6:00 AMnext day
5:00 PM10:00 PM2:00 PM10:00 PM11:00 PM3:30 AMnext day7:00 AMnext day
6:00 PM11:00 PM3:00 PM11:00 PM12:00 AMnext day4:30 AMnext day8:00 AMnext day
7:00 PM12:00 AMnext day4:00 PM12:00 AMnext day1:00 AMnext day5:30 AMnext day9:00 AMnext day
8:00 PM1:00 AMnext day5:00 PM1:00 AMnext day2:00 AMnext day6:30 AMnext day10:00 AMnext day
9:00 PM2:00 AMnext day6:00 PM2:00 AMnext day3:00 AMnext day7:30 AMnext day11:00 AMnext day
10:00 PM3:00 AMnext day7:00 PM3:00 AMnext day4:00 AMnext day8:30 AMnext day12:00 PMnext day
11:00 PM4:00 AMnext day8:00 PM4:00 AMnext day5:00 AMnext day9:30 AMnext day1:00 PMnext day

Highlighted rows: 9 am – 5 pm in EST.

What to know about EST

Many people say “EST” all year when they mean Eastern Time. From March to November, New York and Toronto are on EDT (UTC−4), so a literal EST conversion is one hour off.

If you mean the time in New York, convert with New York rather than a fixed EST offset. If you genuinely need UTC−5 all year, EST is correct.

Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador are also UTC−5 all year, but they do not call it EST.

Read more about why abbreviations need context and how daylight saving changes offsets.

Popular conversions

Local time in cities that use EST

Other time zone abbreviations

All time zones →
UTCCoordinated Universal TimeUTC+0GMTGreenwich Mean TimeUTC+0BSTBritish Summer TimeUTC+1CETCentral European TimeUTC+1CESTCentral European Summer TimeUTC+2EDTEastern Daylight TimeUTC−4CSTCentral Standard Time (North America)UTC−6CDTCentral Daylight TimeUTC−5MSTMountain Standard TimeUTC−7PSTPacific Standard TimeUTC−8PDTPacific Daylight TimeUTC−7ISTIndia Standard TimeUTC+5:30JSTJapan Standard TimeUTC+9SGTSingapore TimeUTC+8GSTGulf Standard TimeUTC+4AESTAustralian Eastern Standard TimeUTC+10AEDTAustralian Eastern Daylight TimeUTC+11