Time difference between New York City and San Francisco
New York City EDT · UTC-4 San Francisco PDT · UTC-7 Best time to call
Hours shown in New York City time. The working-day overlap runs 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM in New York City, which is 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM in San Francisco — schedule calls in that window.
Hour-by-hour conversion
| New York City (EDT) | San Francisco (PDT) | Call quality |
|---|---|---|
| 12:00 AM | 9:00 PM−1 day | Off hours |
| 1:00 AM | 10:00 PM−1 day | Off hours |
| 2:00 AM | 11:00 PM−1 day | Off hours |
| 3:00 AM | 12:00 AM | Off hours |
| 4:00 AM | 1:00 AM | Off hours |
| 5:00 AM | 2:00 AM | Off hours |
| 6:00 AM | 3:00 AM | Off hours |
| 7:00 AM | 4:00 AM | Off hours |
| 8:00 AM | 5:00 AM | Off hours |
| 9:00 AM | 6:00 AM | Off hours |
| 10:00 AM | 7:00 AM | OK |
| 11:00 AM | 8:00 AM | OK |
| 12:00 PM | 9:00 AM | Best |
| 1:00 PM | 10:00 AM | Best |
| 2:00 PM | 11:00 AM | Best |
| 3:00 PM | 12:00 PM | Best |
| 4:00 PM | 1:00 PM | Best |
| 5:00 PM | 2:00 PM | OK |
| 6:00 PM | 3:00 PM | OK |
| 7:00 PM | 4:00 PM | OK |
| 8:00 PM | 5:00 PM | OK |
| 9:00 PM | 6:00 PM | OK |
| 10:00 PM | 7:00 PM | Off hours |
| 11:00 PM | 8:00 PM | Off hours |
Daylight saving time note
New York City and San Francisco do not change their clocks on the same date. Between November 1, 2026 and November 1, 2026 the difference is 2 hours ahead of San Francisco — because New York City and San Francisco switch daylight saving time on different dates.
For the rest of the year the difference holds steady at 3 hours. Every time on this page is computed from the IANA database at the moment you load it, so the tables above already account for whichever side has switched.
Why the time difference exists
New York City uses UTC-5 as its standard offset and San Francisco uses UTC-8. Both switch for daylight saving time, but not on the same dates, opening short windows where the usual difference changes by an hour. Geographically the two lie about 4,100 km apart, with San Francisco to the west of New York City.
Flying from New York City to San Francisco, your body clock shifts about 3 hours back. In flying terms that's roughly 5½ hours in the air, give or take. A quick look at each side's working hours keeps meetings out of the middle of the night.
