What is the time zone of Oklahoma?

The state of Oklahoma is in the Central Time zone. All counties and cities of the state have the same time zone, there are no exceptions. Oklahoma is observing daylight savings so there are two different clocks depending on the time of the year.

  • Central Standard Time (CST): – 6:00 UTC/GMT (behind)
  • Central Daylight Time (CDT): – 5:00 UTC/GMT (behind)
Central Time
us state Oklahoma counties time zone map
Oklahoma time zone
USA time zone map 1
Click to enlarge

The vast majority of the neighbouring states are in the same zone (Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Texas). But you will be entering the Mountain Time zone when you cross the border with Colorado or New Mexico.

Daylight savings time (DST)

Oklahoma is using daylight savings as also documented in the Uniform Time Act of 1966. During daylight savings the time changes from Central Standard time (CST) to Central Daylight time (CDT).

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.

Oklahoma 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 Oklahoma.

Date Bill Status/Action Title/summary
18 Feb 2021 HB1660 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 To Senate General Government Committee Daylight savings time; establishing daylight saving time as standard time in Oklahoma after congressional approval. Effective date.
2 Feb 2021 SB381 To Senate General Government Committee Daylight savings time; establishing daylight saving time as standard time in Oklahoma after congressional approval. Effective date.

Other US states

You can check out information and maps of other US states by clicking on the below links.