Eastern Time cities
Live clocks and sun times for all 11 cities on this site.
Live · ET · Georgia
Time in Atlanta
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Atlanta runs on Eastern Time – UTC−5 (EST) in winter, UTC−4 (EDT) in summer – from a longitude nearer the Central Time meridian, so its sun keeps a schedule more than half an hour behind its clocks.
- Now in effect
- EST or EDT
- Next change
- Second Sunday in March
- Airport
- ATL · Hartsfield–Jackson
- Latest winter sunrise
- ≈ 7:43 AM EST
Why does the sun rise so late in Atlanta?
- Sunrise today
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- Solar noon
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- Sunset today
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- Daylight
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Eastern Standard Time is the mean solar time of 75°W. Downtown Atlanta is at 84.39°W, more than nine degrees further west – and only 5.6 degrees east of 90°W, the meridian Central Time is built on. With four minutes of time per degree, Atlanta's sun runs about 38 minutes behind the clock. Solar noon comes at 12:36 PM EST on the December solstice and at 1:39 PM EDT in June.
Everything else shifts with it. The latest standard-time sunrise is about 7:43 AM, around January 8, and even the earliest sunset of the year, about 5:29 PM in early December, comes an hour after the earliest one in New York (4:28 PM). With daylight saving time the latest sunrise on the clock is 8:01 AM EDT on November 6, 2027, the last morning before the fall change; in summer the sun sets as late as 8:52 PM.
History explains the mismatch. Atlanta kept Central Time on its clocks into the 20th century – voters turned down a switch to Eastern time in a 1931 referendum – until Governor Eugene Talmadge signed a 1941 law putting all of Georgia on Eastern Time. By the sun, Atlanta is still a Central Time city; by the clock it matches Eastern Time from Maine to Miami.
| Date | Sunrise | Sunset |
|---|---|---|
| Dec 4, 2026 (earliest sunset) | 7:27 AM EST | 5:29 PM EST |
| Dec 21, 2026 (9 h 55 m) | 7:38 AM EST | 5:33 PM EST |
| Jan 8, 2027 (latest EST sunrise) | 7:43 AM EST | 5:46 PM EST |
| Mar 13 → 14, 2027 (spring forward) | 6:51 → 7:49 AM | 6:44 → 7:44 PM |
| Jun 21, 2027 (14 h 24 m) | 6:27 AM EDT | 8:51 PM EDT |
| Nov 6 → 7, 2027 (fall back) | 8:01 → 7:02 AM | 6:41 → 5:40 PM |
What would permanent daylight saving time mean for Atlanta?
Georgia has already said yes in principle. In April 2021 Governor Brian Kemp signed Senate Bill 100, which puts the state on daylight saving time all year – but only once federal law allows it. The Uniform Time Act lets states stay on standard time permanently, not on daylight time, so the 2021 law has never taken effect.
In 2026 lawmakers tried a workaround. House Bill 154 would have had the governor ask the US Transportation Secretary to move Georgia into the Atlantic Time Zone, which without daylight saving time is the same as EDT all year. The state Senate passed it 45–5 in March 2026, but the House never took the final vote before the session ended in early April, so it died. At the federal level, the Sunshine Protection Act (H.R. 139) passed the US House 308–117 on July 14, 2026; it would make daylight time permanent nationwide with a state opt-out. As of November 2026 the Senate has not voted and the bill sits with the Senate Commerce Committee, so clocks keep changing. Details for every year are on the daylight saving time page.
The chart shows the cost. Under current law Atlanta's sunrise reaches 8:00 AM on at most a couple of mornings a year, at the very end of EDT – November 5 and 6 in 2027. On permanent daylight time it would be 8:00 AM or later on 122 mornings – from November 5 to March 6 – and 8:30 AM or later on 62 of them, peaking at about 8:43 AM in early January. Solar noon would drift as late as 1:52 PM in February, while winter sunsets would come no earlier than about 6:29 PM.
How big is the time jump between Atlanta and Birmingham?
| City | Zone | Solar noon, Dec 21 | Sunrise, Jan 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Athens, GA | ET | 12:32 PM EST | 7:39 AM EST |
| Atlanta | ET | 12:36 PM EST | 7:43 AM EST |
| Chattanooga, TN | ET | 12:39 PM EST | 7:50 AM EST |
| Birmingham, AL | CT | 11:45 AM CST | 6:52 AM CST |
Drive west on Interstate 20 and the clock drops an hour at the Alabama line. Birmingham, about 140 miles from Atlanta in a straight line, is on Central Time. Yet it sits only 2.4 degrees further west, so the sun reaches its high point there just ten minutes after it does in Atlanta. On the clock, those ten minutes become fifty in the other direction: solar noon on December 21 is 12:36 PM EST in Atlanta and 11:45 AM CST in Birmingham.
The boundary is not perfectly clean. A few east Alabama towns that live off Georgia jobs, such as Phenix City across the river from Columbus, unofficially keep Eastern Time, as the tz database notes. Lines like these are explained on how time zone boundaries are drawn. To the north-west, Chattanooga (104 miles) is on Eastern Time like the rest of East Tennessee, while Nashville and Memphis are on Central – see Tennessee's two time zones. Athens, 61 miles east, shares Atlanta's clock and sees the sun about four minutes earlier.
- Eastern Time
- Central Time (one hour behind)
Which counties and airport serve Atlanta?
Atlanta lies mostly in Fulton County, with a slice of its east side in DeKalb County; the Atlanta Regional Commission puts about 93% of the city's area in Fulton and 7% in DeKalb. Both counties, like the rest of Georgia, have kept Eastern Time since 1941.
ATL, Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport, lies south of downtown and spreads across parts of Fulton and Clayton counties and the cities of Atlanta, College Park and Hapeville. In the Airports Council International ranking for 2025, published in April 2026, it was again the world's busiest airport by passengers, with 106.3 million; Chicago O'Hare led for aircraft movements. The Eastern Time cities hub compares Atlanta with ten other cities on the same clock.
Frequently asked questions
Is Atlanta on Eastern or Central Time?
Eastern Time. Atlanta uses EST (UTC−5) in winter and EDT (UTC−4) in summer, the same clock as New York, even though its longitude is closer to the Central Time meridian.
Does all of Georgia use Eastern Time?
Yes. The whole state has been on Eastern Time since 1941, and all of it observes daylight saving time. See all states on Eastern Time.
What is the time difference between Atlanta and Nashville?
One hour. Nashville is on Central Time, so when it is 10:00 AM in Atlanta it is 9:00 AM in Nashville. Chattanooga and Knoxville, in East Tennessee, share Atlanta's time.
What time is it in Atlanta when it is 9:00 AM in Dallas?
10:00 AM. Dallas is on Central Time, one hour behind Atlanta all year. See EST to CST.
Is Atlanta on the same time as Miami?
Yes. Atlanta and Miami are both on Eastern Time and change clocks on the same Sundays, so they always show the same time. See time in Miami.