EST to PST Conversion: Time Difference, Chart and DST Rules

EST is exactly three hours ahead of PST, and EDT is exactly three hours ahead of PDT. For ordinary New York-to-Los Angeles conversions, subtract three hours: 1:00 PM in New York is normally 10:00 AM in Los Angeles.

The gap is normally three hours. On the two US daylight saving transition days, it briefly becomes four hours in spring and two hours in autumn because New York and Los Angeles reach 2:00 AM at different UTC moments. Use the New York to Los Angeles converter for an exact date-aware result.

12:00 AM Eastern = 9:00 PM Pacific on the previous day. 3:00 AM Eastern = 12:00 AM Pacific. 6:00 AM Eastern = 3:00 AM Pacific. 9:00 AM Eastern = 6:00 AM Pacific.

12:00 PM Eastern = 9:00 AM Pacific. 3:00 PM Eastern = 12:00 PM Pacific. 6:00 PM Eastern = 3:00 PM Pacific. 9:00 PM Eastern = 6:00 PM Pacific.

For any time not shown here, subtract three hours on ordinary dates. If the result falls before midnight, move the Pacific date to the previous day. During the short daylight saving transition windows, use the date-aware converter instead.

EST means Eastern Standard Time at UTC-5, while PST means Pacific Standard Time at UTC-8. During US daylight saving time, most locations in these zones use EDT at UTC-4 and PDT at UTC-7 instead.

People often write EST or PST when they mean Eastern Time or Pacific Time generally. For scheduling, the broader names are safer because they do not assume whether daylight saving is active. The EST reference and PST reference explain the fixed standard-time offsets.

New York and Los Angeles use the same US transition dates, but each city changes at 2:00 AM local time. That creates a short UTC window when the city-to-city gap is four hours in spring or two hours in autumn. Outside those windows, it is three hours.

On ordinary dates, Eastern times between 12:00 AM and 2:59 AM convert to the previous calendar day in Pacific Time. For example, Tuesday at 1:30 AM Eastern is normally Monday at 10:30 PM Pacific. Check the exact date during a daylight saving transition.

This matters for flights, release deadlines, live events and overnight support shifts. Include the date and both timezone names when the converted time crosses midnight.

Check the live clocks for New York and Los Angeles when you need the current local date as well as the time.

A practical cross-coast meeting window is 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM Eastern, which is 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM Pacific. Both sides are inside normal working hours without forcing the Pacific team into an unusually early start.

Later meetings can work, but 5:00 PM Eastern is already 2:00 PM Pacific. Earlier meetings put more of the inconvenience on the West Coast. For larger teams, use the meeting planner to compare everyone before sending the invitation.