Convert EST to PST
To convert EST to PST: 12:00 PM EST is 9:00 AM PST. EST is UTC-05:00 and PST is UTC-08:00, so PST is 3 hours behind EST, all year.
In Pacific Standard Time
- On a 24-hour clock
- 12:00 EST is 09:00 PST
- The offsets
- EST is UTC-05:00, PST is UTC-08:00
- Difference
- PST is 3 hours behind EST
- Date
- Same calendar day.
- This gap holds all year
- Both zones switch on the same dates, so they move together.
- EST is only in force part of the year United States: daylight time starts the second Sunday in March, at 02:00 local time and ends the first Sunday in November, at 02:00 local time (Energy Policy Act of 2005, in force since 2007). In 2026 that is 2026-03-08 to 2026-11-01. New York is on EDT between those dates.
- otherwise EDT, UTC-04:00
- Military time zone letters Z (Zulu) is UTC. A to M run east of Greenwich an hour apart, N to Y west, and J is left out. A letter names an offset, so a zone that switches to daylight time changes letter: EST is R, EDT is Q.
- EST is R (Romeo), PST is U (Uniform)
- In every zone
- HST 07:00 AKST 08:00 PST 09:00 AKDT 09:00 MST 10:00 PDT 10:00 CST 11:00 MDT 11:00 EST 12:00 CDT 12:00 EDT 13:00 UTC 17:00 GMT 17:00 BST 18:00 CET 18:00 CEST 19:00 EET 19:00 EEST 20:00 MSK 20:00 IST 22:30 SGT 01:00 HKT 01:00 JST 02:00 AEST 03:00 AEDT 04:00 NZST 05:00 NZDT 06:00
How the Time Zone Converter works
Eastern Standard Time (EST) is UTC-05:00 and Pacific Standard Time (PST) is UTC-08:00, so converting EST to PST means subtracting 3 hours from the EST time. PST is 3 hours behind EST.
Worked through: 12:00 PM EST is 9:00 AM PST.
The gap between these two does not change during the year. Both switch to daylight saving on the same dates under the United States rule (the second Sunday in March, at 02:00 local time, ending the first Sunday in November, at 02:00 local time), so they move together and the difference between them never does. The daylight-time pairing is the same 3 hours.
Going west, three hours back, and the direction where the working day stops overlapping. A 9am meeting in New York is 6am in California, which is the practical reason most transcontinental calls in the US are scheduled between 12:00 and 17:00 Eastern. That window is 09:00 to 14:00 Pacific, the only one where both coasts are at their desks. Outside it, one end is always being asked for a favor.
One thing worth stating plainly, because it is the most common mistake in this whole subject: an abbreviation is not a place. EST is Eastern Standard Time, which New York uses only part of the year; the rest of the time it is on EDT at UTC-04:00. PST is likewise only in force for part of the year in Los Angeles; otherwise it is PDT at UTC-07:00. If what you have is a city and a date rather than a pair of abbreviations, that is a different question and needs the tz database, not arithmetic. This is also why the shifting designations exist: ET means Eastern time whichever of the two is in force, and PT means Pacific time whichever of the two is in force. Searching for ET to PT and searching for EST to PST are the same question in two vocabularies, which is why this converter answers both.
Common times for this pair:
- 9:00 AM EST is 6:00 AM PST - 12:00 PM EST is 9:00 AM PST - 2:00 PM EST is 11:00 AM PST - 5:00 PM EST is 2:00 PM PST
Time Zone Converter FAQ
What is the time difference between EST and PST?
PST is 3 hours behind EST. EST is UTC-05:00 and PST is UTC-08:00, and both offsets are definitions rather than measurements, so the subtraction is exact.
What time is 12:00 PM EST in PST?
12:00 PM EST is 9:00 AM PST. Subtract 3 hours and carry the date if it crosses midnight.
Does the difference between EST and PST change with daylight saving?
No. Both switch on the same dates, so they move together and the gap between them stays at 3 hours.
Is there anything specific to this pair worth knowing?
Going west, three hours back, and the direction where the working day stops overlapping. A 9am meeting in New York is 6am in California, which is the practical reason most transcontinental calls in the US are scheduled between 12:00 and 17:00 Eastern. That window is 09:00 to 14:00 Pacific, the only one where both coasts are at their desks. Outside it, one end is always being asked for a favor.
Someone wrote EST but it is summer. What do they mean?
Almost certainly the zone rather than the abbreviation: New York time, which in summer is EDT at UTC-04:00 rather than EST at UTC-05:00. People type the standard-time abbreviation all year round. If an invitation is an hour out from what you calculated, this is why.