Alaska Time Zone

For time zones with the abbreviation AST, see AST (time).
"Alaska time" redirects here. For time in the Aleutian Islands in southwestern Alaska, see Hawaii–Aleutian Time Zone.
This article is about the time zone with daylight change in North America. For the static time zone, see UTC−09:00.
Alaska Time Zone
Time zone
UTC offset
AKSTUTC−09:00
AKDTUTC−08:00
Current time
15:53, 21 November 2024 AKST [refresh]
Observance of DST
DST is observed throughout this time zone.

The Alaska Time Zone observes standard time by subtracting nine hours from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC−09:00). During daylight saving time its time offset is eight hours (UTC−08:00). The clock time in this zone is based on mean solar time at the 135th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory.

The zone includes nearly all of the U.S. state of Alaska and is one hour behind the Pacific Time Zone.

  • standard time: Alaska Standard Time (AKST)
  • daylight saving time: Alaska Daylight Time (AKDT)

The western Aleutian Islands observe Hawaii–Aleutian Time, one hour behind the remainder of the state.

The largest city in the Alaskan Time Zone is Anchorage, Alaska. The Anchorage Metropolitan Area is the largest metropolitan area in the zone.

Effective from 2007, the local time changes from AKST to AKDT at 02:00 LST (local standard time) to 03:00 LDT (local daylight time) on the second Sunday in March and returns at 02:00 LDT to 01:00 LST on the first Sunday in November. As such, Alaska spends most of the year on daylight saving time rather than standard time.