Convert PST to EST
To convert PST to EST: 12:00 PM PST is 3:00 PM EST. PST is UTC-08:00 and EST is UTC-05:00, so EST is 3 hours ahead of PST, all year.
In Eastern Standard Time
- On a 24-hour clock
- 12:00 PST is 15:00 EST
- The offsets
- PST is UTC-08:00, EST is UTC-05:00
- Difference
- EST is 3 hours ahead of PST
- Date
- Same calendar day.
- This gap holds all year
- Both zones switch on the same dates, so they move together.
- PST 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. Los Angeles is on PDT between those dates.
- otherwise PDT, UTC-07:00
- 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.
- PST is U (Uniform), EST is R (Romeo)
- In every zone
- HST 10:00 AKST 11:00 PST 12:00 AKDT 12:00 MST 13:00 PDT 13:00 CST 14:00 MDT 14:00 EST 15:00 CDT 15:00 EDT 16:00 UTC 20:00 GMT 20:00 BST 21:00 CET 21:00 CEST 22:00 EET 22:00 EEST 23:00 MSK 23:00 IST 01:30 SGT 04:00 HKT 04:00 JST 05:00 AEST 06:00 AEDT 07:00 NZST 08:00 NZDT 09:00
How the Time Zone Converter works
Pacific Standard Time (PST) is UTC-08:00 and Eastern Standard Time (EST) is UTC-05:00, so converting PST to EST means adding 3 hours to the PST time. EST is 3 hours ahead of PST.
Worked through: 12:00 PM PST is 3:00 PM EST.
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.
The single most searched time zone conversion there is, and the easiest to get right: both coasts switch to daylight saving on the same dates, so the gap is three hours in January and three hours in July and three hours on every day in between. That makes this the rare pair where writing the wrong abbreviation costs nothing: PST to EST and PDT to EDT are both three hours, so an invitation that says PST in August is still three hours off New York. It is also why American scheduling converges on these two zones: the arithmetic never moves.
One thing worth stating plainly, because it is the most common mistake in this whole subject: an abbreviation is not a place. PST is Pacific Standard Time, which Los Angeles uses only part of the year; the rest of the time it is on PDT at UTC-07:00. EST is likewise only in force for part of the year in New York; otherwise it is EDT at UTC-04:00. 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: PT means Pacific time whichever of the two is in force, and ET means Eastern time whichever of the two is in force. Searching for PT to ET and searching for PST to EST are the same question in two vocabularies, which is why this converter answers both.
Common times for this pair:
- 9:00 AM PST is 12:00 PM EST - 12:00 PM PST is 3:00 PM EST - 3:00 PM PST is 6:00 PM EST - 5:00 PM PST is 8:00 PM EST
Time Zone Converter FAQ
What is the time difference between PST and EST?
EST is 3 hours ahead of PST. PST is UTC-08:00 and EST is UTC-05:00, and both offsets are definitions rather than measurements, so the subtraction is exact.
What time is 12:00 PM PST in EST?
12:00 PM PST is 3:00 PM EST. Add 3 hours and carry the date if it crosses midnight.
Does the difference between PST and EST 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?
The single most searched time zone conversion there is, and the easiest to get right: both coasts switch to daylight saving on the same dates, so the gap is three hours in January and three hours in July and three hours on every day in between. That makes this the rare pair where writing the wrong abbreviation costs nothing: PST to EST and PDT to EDT are both three hours, so an invitation that says PST in August is still three hours off New York. It is also why American scheduling converges on these two zones: the arithmetic never moves.
Someone wrote PST but it is summer. What do they mean?
Almost certainly the zone rather than the abbreviation: Los Angeles time, which in summer is PDT at UTC-07:00 rather than PST at UTC-08:00. People type the standard-time abbreviation all year round. If an invitation is an hour out from what you calculated, this is why.