Los Angeles follows Pacific Time: PST (UTC−8) from the first Sunday in November to the second Sunday in March, and PDT (UTC−7) for the rest of the year. These dates were set nationally by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and have applied since 2007; clocks change at 2:00 a.m. local time.
In 2018 California voters approved Proposition 7, which allows the state legislature to move to permanent daylight time — but federal law only lets states stay on standard time all year, not daylight time. Without an act of Congress nothing can change, and the federal Sunshine Protection Act, which passed the US Senate in 2022, has so far not become law. For now, Los Angeles still changes its clocks twice a year.
Being three hours behind New York shapes the local workday. The New York Stock Exchange opens at 6:30 a.m. and closes at 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time, so finance professionals in Los Angeles start very early. Entertainment and tech schedules, on the other hand, often anchor to Pacific Time: a streaming premiere at midnight PT is 3 a.m. in New York and 8 a.m. in London in winter.
Los Angeles is also a gateway across the Pacific. Late afternoon in LA is already the next morning in Tokyo and Sydney, and flights to Asia cross the International Date Line — leave LA on a Monday and you will often land on Wednesday, while on the way back you can arrive before you took off.
| City | January | July |
|---|---|---|
| New York | 15:00(+3 h) | 15:00(+3 h) |
| São Paulo | 17:00(+5 h) | 16:00(+4 h) |
| London | 20:00(+8 h) | 20:00(+8 h) |
| Paris | 21:00(+9 h) | 21:00(+9 h) |
| Dubai | 00:00(+12 h, next day) | 23:00(+11 h) |
| Mumbai | 01:30(+13 h 30 min, next day) | 00:30(+12 h 30 min, next day) |
| Singapore | 04:00(+16 h, next day) | 03:00(+15 h, next day) |
| Tokyo | 05:00(+17 h, next day) | 04:00(+16 h, next day) |
| Sydney | 07:00(+19 h, next day) | 05:00(+17 h, next day) |
Los Angeles uses Pacific Standard Time (PST, UTC−8) in winter and Pacific Daylight Time (PDT, UTC−7) from March to November.
Los Angeles is always 3 hours behind New York, because both cities change their clocks on the same dates.
Yes. Clocks spring forward to PDT (UTC−7) on the second Sunday in March and fall back to PST (UTC−8) on the first Sunday in November.
Many studios, streaming platforms and tech companies are based in California, so midnight PT is a common global release time — that is 3 AM in New York and 8 AM in London in winter.