PST to EST Converter (Pacific Time to Eastern Time)

EST is 3 hours ahead of PST.

People on the West Coast convert in this direction when they want to know what the clock says on the other side of the country: how late it is for a client in New York, whether a bank in Charlotte is still open, or when a flight leaving Seattle will land in Boston. The rule is simple, because Eastern Time is always three hours ahead of Pacific Time.

Pacific Time covers California, all of Washington, most of Oregon and most of Nevada. Eastern Time covers the whole Atlantic seaboard from Maine to most of Florida, plus Ohio, Michigan and most of Indiana. Both sides change clocks together, so the answer does not depend on the season.

How to use this tool

1. Pick a date and time in PST. The date matters when daylight saving time is in force.
2. Read the matching time in EST, with both UTC offsets.
3. Use "Use current time" for now, or the tables below for a quick look.

Formula

EST time = PST time − (PST UTC offset) + (EST UTC offset)

The converter looks up both UTC offsets for the actual instant in the saved IANA time zone rules, so daylight saving changes are included automatically.

Example

Worked with the saved rules:

9:00 AM PST on March 2, 2026 = 12:00 PM EST

6:30 PM PDT on August 3, 2026 = 9:30 PM EDT

Time difference through the year

The difference depends on the date when either place moves its clocks. These are the offsets on two reference days, from the saved IANA rules:

Clock changes in 2026

Between these dates the difference shifts by the size of the change.

PST to EST time table

Each hour in Pacific Time with the matching Eastern Time time.

EST to PST time table

Each hour in Eastern Time with the matching Pacific Time time.

Hours that work in both places

Hours (on the January reference day) that fall between 8:00 AM and 8:00 PM in both PST and EST:

Why West Coast workers start early

The US stock exchanges follow the Eastern clock. The New York Stock Exchange opens its core session at 9:30 a.m. Eastern, which is 6:30 a.m. Pacific, and the closing bell at 4:00 p.m. Eastern rings at 1:00 p.m. Pacific. Traders, analysts and finance teams in California therefore tend to work an early shift that ends in the early afternoon.

The same logic applies to customer service and logistics. A company that promises answers by the end of the day in Eastern Time is counting on the three-hour head start, so a request sent from Los Angeles at 3:00 p.m. arrives when it is already 6:00 p.m. in New York.

Planning a trip from Pacific to Eastern Time

Flying east costs the traveler three hours of clock time. A departure from San Francisco at 9:00 a.m. Pacific is 12:00 noon Eastern at the moment of takeoff, so an evening arrival in New York is often close to midnight on the body clock.

Hotels, restaurants and event tickets in the Eastern zone quote local time, not the time at home. Convert the start time before booking a connection and leave a margin if a meeting follows the flight.