EST time now (Eastern Standard Time)

What EST means

EST stands for Eastern Standard Time, UTC−5. It is used in the eastern United States and Canada.

It is a standard (winter) time. Places on EST that observe daylight saving time switch to EDT (UTC−4) in summer, so EST is a fixed offset while the local clock is not.

EST or EDT? The most common mistake

EST is a fixed offset: UTC−5, all year. New York, Toronto, Miami and the rest of the eastern US and Canada use it only in winter. From the second Sunday of March to the first Sunday of November their clocks are on Eastern Daylight Time, EDT, UTC−4 (15 U.S.C. §260a sets those dates for the US).

So “3 PM EST” in July is, strictly, 4 PM on a New York wall clock. Most people who write EST in summer mean New York time, but software takes the letters literally: a calendar invitation for “15:00 EST” on a July day lands an hour off. If you mean the local time on the US East Coast whatever the season, write ET (Eastern Time) or name the city, and let the calendar apply the right offset.

A few places stay on EST all year and never switch to EDT: Panama, Jamaica, the Mexican state of Quintana Roo with Cancún (since 2015), and, since 2026, Manitoba: its clocks went forward in March 2026 and stayed, and tzdata now calls Winnipeg’s time EST all year. For these places “EST” is correct in July too, and in summer they are one hour behind New York.

How to write Eastern times so nobody misreads them

For a single moment, give the offset: “15:00 UTC−4” or the ISO 8601 form 2027-07-15T15:00−04:00 cannot be misread. For a recurring meeting, give the city or the IANA zone America/New_York; the offset then follows daylight saving time automatically. Avoid “EST/EDT” in the same string, and avoid “Eastern” alone in international mail: Australia has an Eastern time too (AEST, UTC+10).

Where and when EST is used

4 zones use EST all year. 14 zones use it for part of the year only, switching to daylight saving time in the other months. Computed from tzdata under the current rules.

How long EST has been used

In the tzdata record, New York City has used EST since 1883, Toronto has used EST since 1895 and Panama City has used EST since 1908.

EST in the past

Zones whose tzdata history shows EST before 2025 but that no longer use it:

• America/Resolute (Resolute): 2000–2007
• America/Indiana/Knox (Knox): 1962–2006
• America/Indiana/Tell_City (Tell City): 1964–2006
• America/Rankin_Inlet (Rankin Inlet): 2000–2001
• America/Santo_Domingo (Santo Domingo): 1933–2000
• America/Cambridge_Bay (Cambridge Bay): 2000
• America/Managua (Managua): 1973–1997
• America/Merida (Mérida): 1981–1982
• America/Menominee (Menominee): 1969–1973
• America/Chicago (Chicago): 1936
• America/Moncton (Moncton): 1883–1902

EST converted to other zones

Every column is a fixed offset, so this table is valid on any date. Remember that the regions behind some columns switch to summer time (EST to EDT, CET to CEST, GMT to BST); the clock in those cities is then an hour later than the column.

Related zones and conversions

• EDT time
• America/New_York time zone
• UTC−5 time
• EST to IST
• EST to UTC
• UTC to EST
• IST to EST
• Time zones of the world
• Daylight saving time
• Time zone converter