States on Eastern Time
Every US state fully or partly on ET, with the split counties.
Geography · UTC−05:00
UTC−5: every place on UTC−5
UTC−5 is five hours behind Coordinated Universal Time. Eastern Time uses it only in winter, as EST; Panama, Jamaica, Colombia, Peru, mainland Ecuador and Cancún use it all year; Chicago reaches it only on daylight time.
- Time at UTC−5 now
- --:--
- Eastern Time now
- --:-- ET
- ET offset now
- −05:00 / −04:00
- Next ET change
- Second Sunday in March
Which places are on UTC−5 in winter and UTC−4 in summer?
These places follow the US and Canadian rule: UTC−5 from the first Sunday in November, UTC−4 from the second Sunday in March, switching at 2:00 AM local time. Their winter offset is Eastern Standard Time.
- Eastern Time in the United States: 17 states and Washington D.C. entirely, plus parts of Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee.
- Eastern Time in Canada: most of Ontario and Quebec and eastern Nunavut, including Iqaluit. Details are on Eastern Time in Canada.
- The Bahamas, which changes clocks on the US dates.
- Haiti, which uses the same dates but has skipped daylight saving in some years, most recently 2016.
- Turks and Caicos, which tried Atlantic Standard Time (UTC−4) all year from 2015 and returned to Eastern Time with DST in November 2018.
Cuba: its own rules, and no winter time in 2026–27
Cuba normally uses UTC−5 in winter and UTC−4 in summer, changing on the US Sundays but at midnight: clocks jump from midnight to 1:00 AM in March and fall back from 1:00 AM to midnight in November. In late October 2026, citing its electricity crisis, the government cancelled the November 1 fall-back. Cuba stays on UTC−4 until November 7, 2027, so this winter Havana is an hour ahead of New York and Miami, and phones with older time zone data may show it an hour too early.
Which countries are on UTC−5 all year?
- Panama, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. All three are labelled EST in the time zone database, though they never switch to EDT.
- Colombia and Peru, each on a single national time.
- Ecuador on the mainland; the Galápagos Islands are on UTC−6.
- Quintana Roo, Mexico (Cancún, Tulum, Cozumel), on its "Zona Sureste" time since February 1, 2015, an hour ahead of Mexico City.
- Acre and the southwestern corner of Amazonas in Brazil. A 2008 law moved them to UTC−4; Law 12,876 restored UTC−5 on November 10, 2013.
- Manitoba and Ontario west of 90°W (Kenora, Dryden, Fort Frances, Rainy River), which stopped changing clocks on November 1, 2026. Winnipeg's December sun now rises around 9:25 AM.
- Atikokan, Ontario, which kept EST all year long before its neighbours, and Coral Harbour on Southampton Island, the only Nunavut community without daylight saving.
From November to March these places share New York's clock; from March to November they share Chicago's. That flip catches travellers out: a 9:00 AM meeting in Bogotá is 9:00 AM in New York in January but 10:00 AM in New York in July.
Why don't they change clocks? Most of these countries lie within 20° of the equator, where day length barely moves. Quito's day lasts about 12 hours 7 minutes all year, while New York's runs from about 9 hours 15 minutes in December to 15 hours 6 minutes in June. Shifting the clock gains little when sunrise is near 6:00 AM in every season.
Who is on UTC−5 only in summer?
Some places reach UTC−5 only on daylight time:
- Central Daylight Time (CDT): Chicago, Houston and the rest of the US Central zone from March to November, along with Mexican border municipalities such as Matamoros and Ojinaga, which follow the US dates under Mexico's 2022 time law. Because both zones change together, Central stays one hour behind ET all year; see EST to CST.
- Easter Island (Chile): UTC−6 in its winter and UTC−5 on daylight time from early September to early April, the southern summer. From November to mid-March it shows the same time as New York.
So in July "UTC−5" means Chicago, Bogotá, Lima and Cancún, while New York has moved on to UTC−4. A schedule that says "UTC−5" in summer does not mean Eastern Time.
What time is it in each UTC−5 place right now?
| Place | IANA zone | Now | Abbr. | Offset now | Daylight saving |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | America/New_York | --:-- | EST | UTC−05:00 | US rules |
| Toronto | America/Toronto | --:-- | EST | UTC−05:00 | US rules |
| Nassau, Bahamas | America/Nassau | --:-- | EST | UTC−05:00 | US rules |
| Port-au-Prince, Haiti | America/Port-au-Prince | --:-- | EST | UTC−05:00 | US rules |
| Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos | America/Grand_Turk | --:-- | EST | UTC−05:00 | US rules |
| Havana, Cuba | America/Havana | On UTC−4 until November 7, 2027; no live clock, because older time zone data still shows UTC−5 | |||
| Panama City | America/Panama | --:-- | EST | UTC−05:00 | None |
| Kingston, Jamaica | America/Jamaica | --:-- | EST | UTC−05:00 | None |
| George Town, Cayman Islands | America/Cayman | --:-- | EST | UTC−05:00 | None |
| Bogotá, Colombia | America/Bogota | --:-- | COT | UTC−05:00 | None |
| Quito and Guayaquil, Ecuador | America/Guayaquil | --:-- | UTC−5 | UTC−05:00 | None |
| Lima, Peru | America/Lima | --:-- | PET | UTC−05:00 | None |
| Cancún, Quintana Roo | America/Cancun | --:-- | EST | UTC−05:00 | None since 2015 |
| Rio Branco, Acre | America/Rio_Branco | --:-- | UTC−5 | UTC−05:00 | None |
| Eirunepé, Amazonas | America/Eirunepe | --:-- | UTC−5 | UTC−05:00 | None |
| Atikokan, Ontario | America/Atikokan | --:-- | EST | UTC−05:00 | None |
| Coral Harbour, Nunavut | America/Coral_Harbour | --:-- | EST | UTC−05:00 | None |
| Chicago | America/Chicago | --:-- | CST | UTC−06:00 | UTC−5 Mar–Nov |
| Easter Island, Chile | Pacific/Easter | --:-- | UTC−5 | UTC−05:00 | UTC−5 Sep–Apr |
To convert a specific Eastern time to any of these places, use the Eastern Time converter; to see the US and Canadian zones side by side, open the time zone map.
Why does so much of the Americas sit on UTC−5?
Because of longitude. The Earth turns 15° an hour, so the meridian at 75°W is where the sun is highest at noon on a UTC−5 clock, and the natural band for that offset runs from 67.5°W to 82.5°W. South America's Pacific coast lies almost directly south of the US East Coast: Lima, at 77.04°W, is on practically the same meridian as Washington D.C., and Bogotá sits just west of New York's longitude. Panama, Jamaica, Ecuador and Peru lie almost entirely inside the same band.
Some members chose UTC−5 against the sun. Cancún, near 87°W, is closer to the Central meridian; Quintana Roo moved an hour ahead in 2015 to give tourists longer evenings. Atikokan, at almost 92°W, has long kept EST by local choice, and Winnipeg, at 97°W, joined UTC−5 in 2026. At the other end, Rio Branco in Acre (67.8°W) sits right on the band's eastern edge.
The offset itself and how it is written are covered on the Eastern Time UTC offset page.
What is the Etc/GMT+5 sign trap?
The IANA time zone database contains fixed-offset zones named Etc/GMT+5, Etc/GMT-5 and so on, and their signs are reversed. Etc/GMT+5 is five hours behind UTC, the offset of Bogotá and of New York in winter. Etc/GMT-5 is UTC+5, the time in Pakistan.
The reason is historical. These names follow the POSIX TZ convention, which counts hours to be added to local time to reach UTC, so places west of Greenwich get a positive number; the same convention gives US Eastern Time the rule string EST5EDT. ISO 8601 and everyday usage do the opposite and write -05:00.
Two more traps sit nearby. The legacy ID EST is now an alias of America/Panama: fixed UTC−5 with no daylight saving, so it is wrong for New York most of the year. And a fixed offset cannot follow rule changes. Store the city-based zone, such as America/New_York, America/Bogota or America/Cancun, and keep numeric offsets for timestamps that record a single instant. Check the live Eastern Time clock to see which offset New York is on today.
Frequently asked questions
Is Colombia on the same time as New York?
From early November to mid-March, yes: both are on UTC−5. The rest of the year New York is on EDT and Bogotá is one hour behind it, the same as Chicago.
Is Cancún on the same time as Miami?
Only in winter. Quintana Roo keeps UTC−5 all year, so from March to November Cancún is one hour behind Miami.
Which capital cities are on UTC−5?
All year: Panama City, Kingston, Bogotá, Quito, Lima and George Town (Cayman Islands). In winter only: Washington D.C., Ottawa, Nassau, Port-au-Prince and Cockburn Town (Turks and Caicos), which move to UTC−4 for daylight saving.
Is GMT−5 the same as UTC−5?
Yes, for everyday purposes. GMT and UTC differ by less than a second, so GMT−5 and UTC−5 name the same offset. Only the IANA Etc/GMT names reverse the sign.
Would permanent daylight time take Eastern Time off UTC−5?
Yes. The Sunshine Protection Act would keep Eastern Time on UTC−4 all year. The House passed it on July 14, 2026; as of late 2026 the Senate has not voted, so EST (UTC−5) still returns every November.
Explore
Eastern Standard Time
What EST is, when it applies and how it is written.
Eastern Time UTC offset
Why ET alternates between UTC−5 and UTC−4.
Eastern Time in Canada
Ontario, Quebec and Nunavut, including the communities that never change.
US & Canada time zone map
All eight North American zones on one live map.
EST to CST
Eastern to Central Time, hour by hour.