| Pacific Time Zone | |
|---|---|
| Time zone | |
 Pacific Time Zone | |
| UTC offset | |
| PST | UTC−08:00 |
| PDT | UTC−07:00 |
| Current time | |
| 21:01, 26 October 2025PST[refresh] 22:01, 26 October 2025PDT[refresh] | |
| Observance ofDST | |
| DST is observed throughout this time zone. | |
ThePacific Time Zone (PT) is atime zone encompassing parts of western Canada, the western United States, and western Mexico. Places in this zone observe standard time by subtracting eight hours fromCoordinated Universal Time (UTC−08:00). Duringdaylight saving time, atime offset ofUTC−07:00 is used.
In the United States and Canada, this time zone is generically called the Pacific Time Zone. Specifically, time in this zone is referred to asPacific Standard Time (PST) when standard time is being observed (early November to mid-March), andPacific Daylight Time (PDT) when daylight saving time (mid-March to early November) is being observed. InMexico, the corresponding time zone is known as theZona Noroeste (Northwest Zone) and observes the same daylight saving schedule as the United States and Canada. The largest city in the Pacific Time Zone isLos Angeles,whose metropolitan area is also the largest in the time zone.
The zone is two hours ahead of theHawaii–Aleutian Time Zone, one hour ahead of theAlaska Time Zone, one hour behind theMountain Time Zone,[a] two hours behind theCentral Time Zone, three hours behind theEastern Time Zone, and four hours behind theAtlantic Time Zone.
One Canadian province is split between the Pacific Time Zone and the Mountain Time Zone:
The border between time zones in British Columbia was decided in a1972 plebiscite held in northeastern and southeastern electoral districts due to their ties to neighbouringAlberta.[1]
As of September 24, 2020,Yukon officially switched from the Pacific Time Zone to a time zone "to be reckoned as seven hours behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC−7)" after deciding to stop observing daylight saving time.[2]
InMexico, theZona Noroeste, which corresponds to Pacific Time in the United States and Canada, includes:[citation needed]
Two states are fully contained in the Pacific Time Zone:[3]
Three states are split between the Pacific Time Zone and theMountain Time Zone:[3]
One state is split between the Pacific Time Zone (unofficially), theAlaska Time Zone, and theHawaii–Aleutian Time Zone:
Through 2006, the local time (PST, UTC−08:00) changed to daylight time (PDT, UTC−07:00) at 02:00 LST (local standard time) to 03:00 LDT (local daylight time) on the first Sunday in April, and returned at 02:00 LDT to 01:00 LST on the last Sunday in October.[11] TheUnited States Congress passed theEnergy Policy Act of 2005, which moved the local time changes from PST to PDT to the second Sunday in March and the reversal from PDT to PST to the first Sunday in November.[11] Like other Canadian provinces thatobserve daylight time, British Columbia adopted the same dates in April 2006, to take effect in March 2007 alongside the U.S.[12] Several Mexican states, including Baja California, implemented the new dates for the daylight time changes in 2010, ending a three-year period where cities across theMexico–United States border had a one-hour difference for two months a year.[13]
Proposals to abolish the bi-annual time change and adopt year-round standard time or daylight time gained popularity among U.S. states in the 2010s. 59 percent of voters in California approved a2018 ballot proposition that authorizes the legislature to use year-round daylight saving time, pending Congressional approval.[14] TheWashington State Legislature passed a bill in May 2019 that would move the state to permanent daylight time, subject to Congressional approval;[15] theOregon Legislative Assembly passed a similar bill a month later, while California's attempt failed.[16] The provincial government of British Columbia announced in 2019 that they would follow the U.S. states in whether the time changes were kept or removed in order to maintain a unified time zone.[17] In 2020, Idaho passed legislation to allow for permanent daylight time for the Pacific Time Zone.[18] Congressional approval was sought through theSunshine Protection Act, which was submitted several times and passed by theU.S. Senate in 2022, but its equivalent in theHouse of Representatives failed to pass.[19]
