EST and EDT: US Eastern Time

Eastern Time now (New York)

06:50:00

Saturday 17 October 2026

EDT (UTC−4) · America/New_York

Time when this page was generated: 10:50 UTC on 17 October 2026. It updates to the live time when the page loads.

Currently on EDT (UTC−4). Next clock change: Sunday 1 November 2026 at 02:00, when clocks go back to EST (UTC−5).

US Eastern Time has two names. EST, Eastern Standard Time, is UTC−5 and applies in winter. EDT, Eastern Daylight Time, is UTC−4 and applies from the second Sunday of March to the first Sunday of November. The clock above shows New York's actual time, and its label shows which of the two is in force today.

EST or EDT? Dates for 2026 to 2028

Sunday 8 March 2026: at 02:00 clocks go forward to 03:00. EST (UTC−5) becomes EDT (UTC−4), and the hour in between is skipped.
Sunday 1 November 2026: at 02:00 clocks go back to 01:00. EDT (UTC−4) becomes EST (UTC−5), and the hour from 01:00 happens twice.
Sunday 14 March 2027: at 02:00 clocks go forward to 03:00. EST (UTC−5) becomes EDT (UTC−4), and the hour in between is skipped.
Sunday 7 November 2027: at 02:00 clocks go back to 01:00. EDT (UTC−4) becomes EST (UTC−5), and the hour from 01:00 happens twice.
Sunday 12 March 2028: at 02:00 clocks go forward to 03:00. EST (UTC−5) becomes EDT (UTC−4), and the hour in between is skipped.
Sunday 5 November 2028: at 02:00 clocks go back to 01:00. EDT (UTC−4) becomes EST (UTC−5), and the hour from 01:00 happens twice.

The changes happen at 02:00 local time, under the rules set by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, in force since 2007.

Where Eastern Time is used

In the US: the East Coast states, including New York, Washington DC, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Georgia and most of Florida, along with Ohio, Michigan (most of it) and most of Indiana. In Canada: Ontario (most of it) and Quebec (most of it), including Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. The Bahamas and Haiti change their clocks on the same dates.

Some places use UTC−5 all year and so are on "EST" even in summer: Jamaica, Panama and the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, which includes Cancún. In summer they are one hour behind New York.

A common mistake

Many people write "EST" for Eastern Time all year. Between March and November that is technically wrong, because the East Coast is on EDT. Usually it does no harm, as everyone understands "Eastern Time". It causes trouble with software that takes "EST" literally as UTC−5, and with people abroad who convert from it. In summer, a "15:00 EST" meeting converted literally lands an hour late. The safest wording is "ET" or "New York time".