Time zone · Americas
EST
Eastern Standard Time
Eastern Standard Time covers a wide swath of eastern North America and the Caribbean, from Canadian outposts like Atikokan to US cities like Detroit and Indianapolis and Caribbean islands such as Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Most of them (15 of the 20 zones) switch to Eastern Daylight Time from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November for brighter evenings, while a few, including Jamaica, Panama, and Cancún, stay on standard time all year.
Wednesday, October 14, 2026
Current offset
UTC-05:00
Standard · EST
Daylight saving
Not active
Year-round standard time
IANA zones
20
15 observe DST, 5 don't
DST offset
UTC-04:00
EDT · +1h
About EST
Standard time, with a summer shift.
Eastern Standard Time covers a wide swath of eastern North America and the Caribbean, from Canadian outposts like Atikokan to US cities like Detroit and Indianapolis and Caribbean islands such as Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Most of them (15 of the 20 zones) switch to Eastern Daylight Time from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November for brighter evenings, while a few, including Jamaica, Panama, and Cancún, stay on standard time all year.
IANA zones · the technical identifiers
The 20 zones that resolve to EST.
For software, always store the IANA identifier — never the abbreviation alone. The database keeps these zones distinct because their rules can, and historically did, diverge.
Cities across EST
Local time, city by city.
33 cities
Where EST is used
9 countries.
Same offset · UTC-05:00
Other zones at UTC-05:00 right now.
These named zones share EST's offset today. When daylight saving rules differ, they drift apart for part of the year.
Convert
EST to the world's clocks.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about EST, daylight saving, and how to handle it in software. Can't find what you need? Email [email protected].
- Why do some places in the region stay on EST all year?
- A minority of zones skip daylight saving for consistency in commerce or local tradition, staying permanently on UTC-05:00.
- Which countries fall under the EST umbrella?
- Countries such as Canada, the United States, Mexico, Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Jamaica, Bahamas, and Panama include at least one time zone using this code.
- Is the whole region always on the same clock?
- Not always; depending on daylight-saving status, part of the region shows UTC-05:00 and part on UTC-04:00.
- How does the seasonal shift affect scheduling across EST?
- Most zones spring forward in spring to get extra usable daylight in the evenings and return to standard time in fall, so for about eight months of the year they are an hour ahead of the places that stay on EST all year, such as Panama, Jamaica and Cancún.
Source: IANA tzdb2026d · Reviewed
Free · Developer API
This time zone, as JSON.
Its defining offset, DST status and member counts, from one endpoint.
Also in the API: time zones by coordinates, conversions that flag daylight saving gaps, and abbreviations decoded.
Moving off WorldTimeAPI? Our drop-in replacement needs no key.