USA and Canada time zones for content creators
The US and Canada each span several time zones, so choose a city, not just the country. Use New York or Toronto for Eastern, Chicago or Winnipeg for Central, Denver or Edmonton for Mountain, and Los Angeles or Vancouver for Pacific.
Why “United States” or “Canada” isn’t precise enough
The United States and Canada each span six or more time zones. If you choose the country but not the city, you can be up to several hours off. The fix is simple: choose a city that represents where your audience actually lives.
The main North American time zones
| Zone | Standard / daylight | Representative cities |
|---|---|---|
| Newfoundland | UTC−3:30 / UTC−2:30 | St. John’s |
| Atlantic | UTC−4 / UTC−3 | Halifax |
| Eastern | UTC−5 / UTC−4 | New York, Toronto, Miami, Atlanta |
| Central | UTC−6 / UTC−5 | Chicago, Dallas, Winnipeg |
| Mountain | UTC−7 / UTC−6 | Denver, Edmonton, Calgary |
| Pacific | UTC−8 / UTC−7 | Los Angeles, Seattle, Vancouver |
| Alaska | UTC−9 / UTC−8 | Anchorage |
| Hawaii | UTC−10, no daylight saving | Honolulu |
Places that don’t follow the usual pattern
- Arizona (America/Phoenix) stays on Mountain Standard Time all year, so in summer it matches Los Angeles rather than Denver.
- Saskatchewan (America/Regina) stays on Central Standard Time all year, so in summer it matches Calgary and Denver.
- Yukon (America/Whitehorse) stays on UTC−7 all year.
- Hawaii doesn’t observe daylight saving time.
This is exactly why TimeZoney uses IANA city timezones such as America/Toronto or America/Los_Angeles instead of labels like “UTC−5”. A city timezone carries its own rules, so the converter applies the right offset for whatever date you enter.
Which city should you choose?
Use your analytics. If most of your US viewers are on the East Coast, plan around New York. If your audience is spread across the country, many creators plan around Eastern Time because it holds the largest share of the US population, then check what that time means on the West Coast. An 8:00 PM Eastern release is 5:00 PM in Los Angeles, which still reaches the Pacific audience in their late afternoon.
In Canada, Toronto (Eastern) covers Ontario and Quebec, the largest audiences, while Vancouver covers British Columbia.
Compare coasts before you publish
Set your primary market first, then add the other cities to TimeZoney’s comparison list. You’ll see the same release in Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific time side by side, without separate mental calculations.
| New York | Chicago | Denver | Phoenix (summer) | Los Angeles |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8:00 PM | 7:00 PM | 6:00 PM | 5:00 PM | 5:00 PM |
Daylight saving dates in the US and Canada
Most of the US and Canada move clocks forward on the second Sunday in March and back on the first Sunday in November. In 2026 that is March 8 and November 1; in 2027 it is March 14 and November 7. For creators outside North America, that means your local upload time for the same US slot shifts by an hour on those dates. See the daylight saving guide for how this interacts with Europe’s different dates.
Convert your next posting time with the audience’s city and the real publishing date.
Open the converter