Time in Washington DC
United States · America/New York · latitude 38.91°
Reading your clock…
Washington DC changes its clocks twice a year
Standard time is UTC-05:00 and daylight saving time is UTC-04:00. The shift is 1 hour, and it is the reason the distance between Washington DC and anywhere else is not a single number.
| Date | Local time | Change | New offset |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday, 14 March 2027 | 02:00 → 03:00 | Forward 60 min | UTC-04:00 |
| Sunday, 7 November 2027 | 02:00 → 01:00 | Back 60 min | UTC-05:00 |
Same clock, different sky: New York, Boston, Atlanta, Miami share America/New_York. Sunrise and sunset differ between them because latitude does, even though the clock does not.
Time difference from Washington DC
Where a range is shown, the gap genuinely changes during the year. That is not rounding or hedging — it is two governments moving their clocks on different weekends.
| City | Difference now | Across the year |
|---|---|---|
| London | 5 hours ahead | +4h / +5h |
| New York | the same time | constant |
| Los Angeles | 3 hours behind | constant |
| Chicago | 1 hour behind | constant |
| Toronto | the same time | constant |
| Paris | 6 hours ahead | +5h / +6h |
| Berlin | 6 hours ahead | +5h / +6h |
| Dubai | 9 hours ahead | +8h / +9h |
| Mumbai | 10 hours 30 minutes ahead | +9h30 / +10h30 |
| Singapore | 13 hours ahead | +12h / +13h |
| Hong Kong | 13 hours ahead | +12h / +13h |
| Tokyo | 14 hours ahead | +13h / +14h |
| Sydney | 16 hours ahead | +14h / +15h / +16h |
| Auckland | 18 hours ahead | +16h / +17h / +18h |
| São Paulo | 2 hours ahead | +1h / +2h |
| UTC | 5 hours ahead | +4h / +5h |
Daylight in Washington DC through the year
From about 9.4 hours in December to 14.9 hours in June. This is the part a plain clock leaves out: 17:00 is a bright evening in one month and long dark in another.
| Month | Sunrise | Sunset | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 07:15 | 17:07 | 9h 52m |
| February | 06:46 | 17:44 | 10h 58m |
| March | 06:05 | 18:13 | 12h 8m |
| April | 05:17 | 18:42 | 13h 25m |
| May | 04:44 | 19:10 | 14h 26m |
| June | 04:35 | 19:29 | 14h 54m |
| July | 04:51 | 19:22 | 14h 31m |
| August | 05:19 | 18:49 | 13h 30m |
| September | 05:46 | 18:01 | 12h 15m |
| October | 06:14 | 17:15 | 11h 1m |
| November | 06:49 | 16:44 | 9h 55m |
| December | 07:15 | 16:42 | 9h 27m |
Daylight length is accurate. The clock times of sunrise and sunset assume each city sits at the centre of its time zone, which can put them up to about an hour and a quarter out for places near a zone's edge — Madrid being the standard example. Day length is unaffected.
Questions
About time in Washington DC
What time zone is Washington DC in?
Washington DC uses the IANA time zone America/New_York, which is UTC-05:00 in standard time and UTC-04:00 while daylight saving is in force. The same zone covers New York, Boston, Atlanta, Miami.
Does Washington DC observe daylight saving time?
Yes. Clocks in Washington DC move by 1 hour, and the next change is on Sunday, 14 March 2027.
Why does the time difference to Washington DC keep changing?
Because the two places do not change their clocks on the same weekend. London is a clear example: it sits 4 hours ahead, then 5 hours ahead across the year rather than one fixed distance.
How much daylight does Washington DC get?
Around 14.9 hours at the longest, in June, and about 9.4 hours at the shortest, in December. The table on this page lists sunrise and sunset through the year. Times are calculated from Washington DC's latitude of 38.91° and are approximate to within about an hour for cities that sit well away from the centre of their time zone.