What is the time zone of New York?
The state of New York is in the Eastern Time zone. All counties and cities of the state have the same time zone, there are no exceptions. New York is observing daylight savings so there are two different clocks depending on the time of the year.
- Eastern Standard Time (EST): – 5:00 UTC/GMT (behind)
- Eastern Daylight Time (EDT): – 4:00 UTC/GMT (behind)
| Eastern Time |
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All neighbouring US states have the same time zone. So, the clocks are unchanged regardless if you cross the border with Connecticut, New Jersey, Vermont, Massachusetts or Pennsylvania. Also, when you cross the Canadian border with Ontario there will be no change in time zone.
Daylight savings time (DST)
New York is using daylight savings as also documented in the Uniform Time Act of 1966. During daylight savings the time changes from Eastern Standard time (EST) to Eastern Daylight time (EDT).
It starts on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. In March the clock is moved forward from 02.00 am to 03.00 am (so you will lose an hour of sleep during the night). While in November it’s reversed as the clock is moved backward from 03.00 am to 02.00 am and you will gain an extra hour of sleep. One way of remembering the movement sequence is that clocks “spring forward and fall back”.
The total period of daylight savings lasts for 34 weeks which is about 65% of the year.
New York time news, bills and legislation
There is a continuous debate about which time should be applied. Several bills have been introduced to legalize daylight saving time as the year-round clock, whereas others try to align the time with bordering counties or states. The table below gives an overview of the latest bills in the state of New York.
| Date | Bill | Status/Action | Title/summary |
| 29 Apr 2021 | A07258 | To Assembly Governmental Operations Committee | Relates to causing New York to observe Atlantic time. |
| 17 Mar 2021 | A06443 | To Assembly Governmental Operations Committee | Establishes daylight saving time as the year-round standard time of the state and the city of New York. |
| 3 Mar 2021 | S05371 | To Senate Finance Committee | Establishes the task force on daylight saving time to study the effects of New York state opting out of daylight saving time. |
| 25 Feb 2021 | A05791 | To Assembly Governmental Operations Committee | Eliminates daylight savings time. |
| 28 Jan 2021 | A03837 | Intro, To Assembly Governmental Operations Committee | Establishes the task force on daylight saving time to study the effects of New York state opting out of daylight saving time. |
| 31 Jan 2021 | S03813 | Intro, To Senate Judiciary Committee | Establishes daylight saving time as the year-round standard time of the state and the city of New York. |
| 16 Jan 2021 | S01876 | Intro, To Senate Judiciary Committee | Relates to causing New York to observe Atlantic time. |
| 30 Oct 2020 | S09077 | To Senate Rules Committee | Establishes daylight saving time as the year-round standard time of the state and the city of New York. |
| 13 Jan 2020 | S07230 | To Senate Judiciary Committee | Makes daylight saving time the permanent standard time of the state and the city of New York. |
| 8 Jan 2020 | S07080 | To Senate Judiciary Committee | Relates to causing New York to observe Atlantic time. |
| 8 Jan 2020 | A01690 | To Assembly Governmental Operations Committee | Establishes the task force on daylight saving time to study the effects of New York state opting out of daylight saving time. |
| 8 Jan 2020 | S03928 | To Senate Finance Committee | Establishes the task force on daylight saving time to study the effects of New York state opting out of daylight saving time. |
| 8 Jan 2020 | A06622 | To Assembly Governmental Operations Committee | Eliminates daylight savings time. |
Other US states
You can check out information and maps of other US states by clicking on the below links.