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Current Time in Los Angeles
Los Angeles runs on Pacific Time — PST (UTC-8) in winter, PDT (UTC-7) in summer. Here's the exact time right now, this year's clock-change dates, sunrise/sunset, moon phase, and how it compares to your own clock.
Los Angeles time
America/Los_Angeles
Los Angeles
Your time
Comparing to your device's time zone…
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metro, 2025 estimate
Sky & Location Data
Computed for Los Angeles's exact coordinates — not a generic estimate.
Best Time to Call
Overlap between Los Angeles's 9:00–17:00 workday and a typical 9:00–17:00 day elsewhere, calculated live for today.
| City | Their time now | Good window (Los Angeles time) |
|---|---|---|
| Calculating… | ||
The last of the original four zones to settle in
Pacific Time was one of the four zones the railroads established across North America on November 18, 1883 — the same reform that created Eastern, Central, and Mountain Time. But the West Coast's patchwork of local municipal times took longer to fully consolidate under the new standard than the more densely connected East, simply because California's rail and telegraph network was younger and less interlinked at the time.
One clock, many sunrises
Los Angeles's basin geography, ringed by mountains, means the moment the sun actually clears the horizon can vary noticeably between neighborhoods just a few miles apart — a canyon-facing east or a valley floor sees the sun later than an open hillside would. Every clock across the metro area reads the identical official time, but the sunrise and sunset figures on this page reflect the calculated astronomical values for LA's central coordinates, not necessarily the exact moment visible from every specific address.
The vote to stop changing the clocks
Los Angeles sits inside a state that has already voted to end the twice-yearly clock change — it just can't yet. In 2018, California voters passed Proposition 7 by a wide margin, giving the state legislature the authority to switch to permanent daylight saving time. The catch is that federal law currently only allows states to opt into permanent standard time, not permanent daylight time; a state wanting to stop "falling back" needs an act of Congress first. Nearly a decade on, Proposition 7 remains on the books, waiting on Washington rather than Sacramento.
The industry that schedules around the sun, not the clock
Nowhere else on this list does an entire industry plan its workday around sunlight quite like Los Angeles's film and TV production does. Cinematographers prize "magic hour," the brief window of warm, low-angle light just after sunrise or before sunset, enough that outdoor shoot schedules are frequently built around chasing it rather than a fixed clock time. The flip side is the "night shoot," where an entire crew's call time starts near sunset and wraps near dawn — which is one reason the "normal business hours" listed above apply only loosely to a large share of LA's working population.
Time differences from Los Angeles
Los Angeles follows the same U.S. DST calendar as New York, Chicago, and Denver, so the gaps between them stay fixed year-round.
| City | Typical difference | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Denver | Los Angeles −1h (fixed) | Same U.S. DST calendar |
| Chicago | Los Angeles −2h (fixed) | Same U.S. DST calendar |
| New York | Los Angeles −3h (fixed) | Same U.S. DST calendar |
| London | Los Angeles −8h (sometimes −7h) | UK observes DST on a different date |
| Tokyo | Los Angeles −17h (sometimes −16h) | Tokyo has no DST |
| Sydney | Los Angeles −17h to −19h | Both observe DST in opposite seasons |
Denver, Chicago, and New York are the easiest comparisons, since all four U.S. zones shift DST on the exact same date — the gap between them never moves.
Working hours and when to call
Most LA offices run roughly 9:00 to 17:00, Monday to Friday, though entertainment-industry schedules often run notably later.
- From the US East Coast: a three-hour gap means an LA morning is a New York early afternoon — workable but tight for a full overlapping day.
- From East Asia: LA's best regional pairing among major US cities; an LA afternoon overlaps a Tokyo or Shanghai next-morning.
- From Europe: minimal overlap; an LA morning call lands in the evening in London or Paris.
- From Sydney: almost no daytime overlap; the workable window is typically an LA evening meeting a Sydney next-day morning.
Award season and major industry events (roughly January through March) can noticeably compress availability for entertainment-adjacent scheduling in particular.
Daylight through the year
At roughly 34.1°N, similar in latitude to Seoul or Casablanca, Los Angeles sees a moderate seasonal swing — from about 9 hours 53 minutes around the December solstice to about 14 hours 25 minutes around the June solstice, gentler than the swings seen in Chicago, Denver, or New York further north and east.
How we calculate this page: the live clock, UTC offset, and DST dates above are read directly from the IANA America/Los_Angeles time zone data via your browser, not hard-coded. Sunrise, sunset, solar noon, and twilight times are computed from Los Angeles's exact coordinates (34.0522°N, 118.2437°W) using standard solar position formulas, recalculated on every page load. Moon phase is derived from the current synodic month. Airport distance uses the great-circle formula from those same coordinates to the airport's published location.
Frequently asked questions
What time zone does Los Angeles use?
Pacific Time, identified as America/Los_Angeles. It switches between Pacific Standard Time (PST, UTC-8) in winter and Pacific Daylight Time (PDT, UTC-7) in summer.
When do the clocks change in Los Angeles?
Clocks move forward one hour on the second Sunday in March and back one hour on the first Sunday in November, per U.S. federal law — the same dates as Denver, Chicago, and New York.
Why did Pacific Time take longer to standardize than Eastern Time?
Though established the same day in 1883, California's rail and telegraph network was younger and less densely connected than the East Coast's, so full local adoption of the new standard took somewhat longer to settle.
What is the time difference between Los Angeles and New York?
A fixed three hours, with New York ahead, since both cities observe daylight saving on the identical U.S. schedule.
What are normal business hours in Los Angeles?
Roughly 9:00 to 17:00, Monday to Friday, though entertainment-industry schedules often extend later into the evening.
How do I convert Los Angeles time to my own time zone?
Use the time zone converter, selecting Los Angeles as the source zone and checking a specific date if the target zone observes DST on a different schedule.
Did California vote to stop changing its clocks?
Yes, in 2018 California voters approved Proposition 7, which allows the state legislature to switch to permanent daylight time. It has not taken effect, because federal law currently only permits states to lock in permanent standard time, not permanent daylight time, so the change is waiting on Congress.
Why does the entertainment industry care so much about "magic hour"?
Magic hour, the brief warm, low-angle light just after sunrise or before sunset, is prized by cinematographers for its look, and film and TV shoot schedules are frequently built around chasing that narrow window rather than a standard workday, especially for outdoor scenes.
What is a "night shoot" and how does it change a production's schedule?
A night shoot is a production day scheduled after dark, common for scenes requiring nighttime settings or practical city lighting. Crew call times flip entirely, often starting near sunset and wrapping near dawn, which is one reason "normal business hours" apply loosely, if at all, to much of LA's entertainment workforce.
Planning a call across time zones? Try the meeting planner or see all cities on the world clock.
Time zone comparisons: Los Angeles vs Tokyo · Los Angeles vs New York