What is the time zone of Ohio?
The state of Ohio is in the Eastern Time zone. All counties and cities of the state have the same time zone, there are no exceptions. Ohio 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)
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When crossing the border with the states Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana or Michigan, you will still be in the same time zone. But you will be entering the Central Time zone when travelling a bit further in Kentucky, Indiana or northern Michigan.
Also, when you cross the Canadian border will be no change in time zone.
Daylight savings time (DST)
Ohio 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.
Ohio 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 Ohio.
| Date | Bill | Status/Action | Title/summary |
| 18 Feb 2021 | HB1660 | Intro, Authored by Senator Quinn (principal Senate author) | Daylight saving time; exempting Oklahoma from the federal daylight saving time provision; effective date. |
| 2 Feb 2021 | SB843 | Intro, To Senate General Government Committee | Daylight savings time; establishing daylight saving time as standard time in Oklahoma. Effective date. |
| 2 Feb 2021 | SB381 | Intro, To Senate General Government Committee | Daylight savings time; establishing daylight saving time as standard time in Oklahoma after congressional approval. Effective date. |
| 3 Dec 2020 | SCR8 | Adopted | Urge Congress-permanently extend daylight saving time |
| 28 Mar 2019 | SB119 | To Senate General Government and Agency Review Committee | Exempt Ohio from daylight savings time |
Other US states
You can check out information and maps of other US states by clicking on the below links.