Current Time in Los Angeles
United States — America/Los_Angeles
About Time in Los Angeles
Los Angeles operates on Pacific Time (IANA: America/Los_Angeles). During standard time, this is Pacific Standard Time (PST) at UTC-8. From the second Sunday of March to the first Sunday of November, clocks move forward to Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) at UTC-7. The switch occurs at 2:00 AM local time.
Los Angeles is 3 hours behind New York, 8 hours behind London during winter (7 hours during BST), and 17 hours behind Tokyo year-round (since Japan does not observe DST). Being the westernmost major US city, LA is often the last major American metropolis to ring in the New Year.
Pacific Time shapes the entertainment industry that defines LA. Hollywood film and TV productions schedule around PT, and streaming platforms often release content at midnight PT. The time zone also means that LA-based tech companies in Silicon Beach have a narrower window for same-day communication with European partners, typically limited to the morning hours.
Time Facts
Los Angeles is home to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which communicates with Mars rovers using 'Mars time' — a sol (Martian day) is 24 hours and 37 minutes, requiring mission controllers to shift their schedules daily.
When the Academy Awards air live from Los Angeles at 5:00 PM PST, it is already 1:00 AM the next day in London and 10:00 AM the next morning in Tokyo.
California voters rejected a 2018 ballot measure that would have placed the state on permanent daylight saving time, which would have made LA UTC-7 year-round.
Pacific Time is used by roughly 53 million Americans across California, Washington, Oregon, and Nevada — making it the second most populated US time zone.
Business Hours
Standard business hours in Los Angeles are 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM PT (17:00-01:00 UTC during PST, 16:00-00:00 UTC during PDT).