Live · ET · District of Columbia

Time in Washington, DC

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Washington is on Eastern Time – UTC−5 (EST) in winter, UTC−4 (EDT) in summer – and it is also where the rules for American clocks are written and where the military's master clock keeps time.

Now in effect
EST or EDT
Next change
Second Sunday in March
Airports
DCA · IAD · BWI
County
None – federal district

What is the master clock at the US Naval Observatory?

On the observatory grounds off Massachusetts Avenue in Northwest Washington – the same grounds that hold the Vice President's residence – the US Naval Observatory runs the Master Clock for the American military. It is not a single clock but an ensemble of cesium-beam standards, hydrogen masers and rubidium fountain clocks whose combined output forms a time scale called UTC(USNO). An Alternate Master Clock in Colorado backs it up.

The Navy describes the Master Clock as the common time reference for the Department of Defense, and the observatory supplies the UTC reference that steers the Global Positioning System. Every GPS satellite carries its own atomic clocks, but their time is monitored and corrected against the Naval Observatory's. So when a phone in Tokyo or a ship in the Atlantic takes the time from GPS, that time traces back to Northwest Washington.

Is the Naval Observatory or NIST the official time of the United States?

Both, for different jobs, and the law says so. Federal law (15 U.S.C. 261) defines US standard time by Coordinated Universal Time "as interpreted or modified for the United States by the Secretary of Commerce in coordination with the Secretary of the Navy." Commerce acts through the National Institute of Standards and Technology; the Navy acts through the observatory.

NIST is headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland, just outside the capital, but its time scale, UTC(NIST), is produced from an ensemble of atomic clocks on its campus in Boulder, Colorado. That is the time behind time.gov, the WWV and WWVB radio broadcasts (WWVB is the signal that sets "atomic" wall clocks) and the internet time servers many computers use. In practice NIST serves civil life and commerce, the observatory serves defense and navigation, and the two time scales are steered to agree closely.

Neither agency decides what the clock reads in Washington. Where the zone lines run is a Department of Transportation matter, set out in 49 CFR Part 71 and explained in how time zone boundaries are drawn; when the clocks change is up to Congress.

Who controls US time: Congress sets daylight saving dates, the Department of Transportation draws zone boundaries, NIST keeps civil time UTC(NIST), and the Naval Observatory keeps the military and GPS reference UTC(USNO) Congress When clocks change Uniform Time Act · DST dates Dept. of Transportation Where zone lines run 49 CFR Part 71 NIST (Commerce) Civil time scale UTC(NIST) time.gov · WWV/WWVB · servers Naval Observatory (Navy) Master Clock UTC(USNO) Defense reference · GPS
Rules (amber) and timekeepers (blue) of US time.

Who decides when Washington's clocks change?

Congress does, across town on Capitol Hill. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 lets a state exempt itself from daylight saving time and stay on standard time all year, as Arizona and Hawaii do, but it gives no state the power to stay on daylight time permanently – that takes a new federal law. The current dates, second Sunday in March to first Sunday in November, come from the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and took effect in 2007.

Permanent daylight time has come close twice in recent years. The Senate passed the Sunshine Protection Act by unanimous consent in March 2022, but the House never voted. In the current Congress the House passed its version, H.R. 139, on July 14, 2026, by 308 votes to 117; it would make daylight time permanent nationwide while letting states opt out. As of November 2026 the Senate has not voted and the bill sits with the Senate Commerce Committee, so Washington's clocks keep changing – the next jump is shown live at the top of this page. Dates for every year are on the daylight saving time page, and the 2027 DST guide has the exact UTC instants.

What are sunrise and sunset times in Washington, DC?

Sunrise today
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Solar noon
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Sunset today
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Daylight
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Washington sits at about 77.04°W, two degrees west of the 75°W meridian that Eastern Standard Time is based on. Each degree is four minutes, so the sun here runs roughly eight minutes behind the clock: solar noon is 12:06 PM EST at the December solstice and, with daylight saving time, between about 12:52 and 1:17 PM EDT through the summer.

The earliest sunsets, about 4:46 PM EST, cluster in the first half of December; the latest standard-time sunrise, about 7:27 AM, comes around January 5. Daylight saving time pushes the latest sunrise on the clock to 7:41 AM EDT on November 6, 2027, the last morning before the change. If H.R. 139 became law, January sunrises in the capital would arrive at about 8:27 AM and the earliest sunsets would move to about 5:46 PM. The live figures above use a standard approximation and can differ from almanac tables by a minute or so.

Washington, DC sun times, winter 2026–27 and summer 2027
DateSunriseSunset
Dec 7, 2026 (earliest sunset)7:13 AM EST4:46 PM EST
Dec 21, 2026 (9 h 26 m)7:23 AM EST4:49 PM EST
Jan 5, 2027 (latest EST sunrise)7:27 AM EST5:00 PM EST
Mar 13 → 14, 2027 (spring forward)6:23 → 7:21 AM6:13 → 7:14 PM
Jun 21, 2027 (14 h 54 m)5:43 AM EDT8:37 PM EDT
Nov 6 → 7, 2027 (fall back)7:41 → 6:42 AM6:02 → 5:01 PM

Which airports serve Washington, and what county is DC in?

DC is in no county at all. The District once contained Washington County, but the Organic Act of 1871 merged the county and the cities of Washington and Georgetown into one district government. The Census Bureau now treats the whole District as a county equivalent. Its neighbors – Montgomery and Prince George's counties in Maryland, Arlington and Fairfax counties and the city of Alexandria in Virginia – are all on Eastern Time, so commuters never cross a time line.

Three airports carry the capital's name, none of them inside the District. DCA, Ronald Reagan Washington National, sits in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac. IAD, Washington Dulles International, lies in Loudoun and Fairfax counties about 26 miles west. BWI, Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall, is in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, near Baltimore.

Nearby cities share the clock: Arlington (3 miles), Alexandria (7 miles), Annapolis (30 miles) and Baltimore (35 miles). Further up the corridor, Philadelphia and New York are on the same time too, and the Eastern Time cities hub compares them all. For the live zone clock without the local details, see current Eastern Time.

  • Washington and nearby cities, all on Eastern Time

Frequently asked questions

Is Washington, DC on the same time as New York?

Yes. Both are on Eastern Time and change clocks at the same moment, so there is never a time difference between Washington and New York.

Is Washington State on Eastern Time?

No. Washington State is on Pacific Time, 3 hours behind Washington, DC all year. When it is noon in the capital it is 9:00 AM in Seattle. See EST to PST.

Has the United States tried year-round daylight saving time before?

Yes. An emergency energy law put the country on daylight time from January 6, 1974. Dark winter mornings made it unpopular, Congress amended the law that autumn, and standard time returned on October 27, 1974. The history of Eastern Time has the details.

When do Washington's clocks change in 2027?

Clocks spring forward on Sunday, March 14, 2027 at 2:00 AM EST and fall back on Sunday, November 7, 2027 at 2:00 AM EDT.

How many hours ahead of California is Washington, DC?

Three hours, all year. California is on Pacific Time and changes clocks on the same dates as Washington.

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Philadelphia

Almost exactly on the 75°W meridian behind EST.