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Current Time in Columbus, United States

Time and Sun Facts for Columbus

Local time
2:31 pm
Date
Saturday, 24 October 2026
Time zone
America/New_York
UTC offset
UTC-4
Daylight saving
In effect now
Next clock change
1 November 2026 — clocks go back
Sunrise
7:52 am
Sunset
6:40 pm
Day length
10 hours 48 minutes
Coordinates
39.96, -83.00

How Columbus Keeps Time

Columbus keeps EDT, UTC-4. The live clock normally synchronizes to the site time source and then applies the IANA rules for Columbus; until synchronization succeeds, it uses the device clock as a fallback. Daylight-saving changes are applied only where that zone actually observes them.

Columbus runs on the America/New_York zone in the IANA time zone database, which is UTC-4 right now. The clocks change twice a year here: UTC-5 on standard time and UTC-4 while daylight saving is in force. The next change is on 1 November 2026, when clocks go back one hour.

The sun rises in Columbus at 7:52 am today and sets at 6:40 pm — 10 hours 48 minutes of daylight, with solar noon at 1:16 pm. Those times come from the city’s coordinates (39.96, -83.00), so they shift a little every day of the year.

On the two solstices, Columbus has about 15 hours 1 minute of daylight in June and 9 hours 20 minutes in December. The difference is about 5 hours 41 minutes, which shows how strongly the local daylight cycle changes through the year.

At the current civil offset, Columbus’s longitude corresponds to a difference of about 1 hour 32 minutes between zone time and longitude-based mean solar time. Today’s calculated solar noon is 1:16 pm rather than 12:00 on the clock.

EDT is one of several zones in United States, so a time quoted for the country as a whole is not necessarily the time here. Check the city rather than the country when it matters.

Columbus at a Glance

Coordinates39.9600, -83.0000
IANA time zoneAmerica/New_York
Current UTC offsetUTC-4
Daylight savingObserved seasonally
Sunrise today7:52 am
Sunset today6:40 pm
Solar noon1:16 pm
Daylight today10 hours 48 minutes
Straight-line distance to Washington, D.C.525 km
Current clock difference vs Washington, D.C.Same civil time

How Columbus Compares with Other Cities

Read the last column as the other city relative to Columbus. Where either place uses daylight saving, the gap changes for part of the year — the time difference calculator always shows today’s figure.

CityLocal timeCompared with Columbus
London7:31 pm5 hours ahead
Los Angeles11:31 am3 hours behind
Dubai10:31 pm8 hours ahead
Karachi11:31 pm9 hours ahead
Singapore2:31 am12 hours ahead
Tokyo3:31 am13 hours ahead
Sydney5:31 am15 hours ahead

Nearby Listed Cities to Columbus

Distances are straight-line geographic distances between the coordinates used by the directory; road or rail distances will be longer.

CityApprox. distanceLocal time
Cleveland204 km2:31 pm
Pittsburgh261 km2:31 pm
Detroit264 km2:31 pm
Indianapolis271 km2:31 pm
Chicago444 km1:31 pm

Other Cities in United States

United States keeps more than one zone, so these do not all read the same.

CityLocal timeOffset
Albuquerque12:31 pmUTC-6
Anchorage10:31 amUTC-8
Atlanta2:31 pmUTC-4
Austin1:31 pmUTC-5
Boise12:31 pmUTC-6
Boston2:31 pmUTC-4
Charlotte2:31 pmUTC-4
Chicago1:31 pmUTC-5
Cleveland2:31 pmUTC-4
Dallas1:31 pmUTC-5
Denver12:31 pmUTC-6
Detroit2:31 pmUTC-4
Honolulu8:31 amUTC-10
Houston1:31 pmUTC-5
Indianapolis2:31 pmUTC-4
Jacksonville2:31 pmUTC-4
Kansas City1:31 pmUTC-5
Las Vegas11:31 amUTC-7
Los Angeles11:31 amUTC-7
Miami2:31 pmUTC-4
Minneapolis1:31 pmUTC-5
Nashville1:31 pmUTC-5
New Orleans1:31 pmUTC-5
New York2:31 pmUTC-4
Orlando2:31 pmUTC-4
Philadelphia2:31 pmUTC-4
Phoenix11:31 amUTC-7
Pittsburgh2:31 pmUTC-4
Portland11:31 amUTC-7
Sacramento11:31 amUTC-7
Salt Lake City12:31 pmUTC-6
San Antonio1:31 pmUTC-5
San Diego11:31 amUTC-7
San Francisco11:31 amUTC-7
San Jose11:31 amUTC-7
Seattle11:31 amUTC-7
St. Louis1:31 pmUTC-5
Tampa2:31 pmUTC-4
Washington, D.C.2:31 pmUTC-4

Questions People Ask

When does Columbus next change its clocks?

The next transition is 1 November 2026. Use America/New_York in calendar software instead of pinning an event to one fixed UTC offset.

Is Columbus the time everywhere in United States?

No. United States currently has 6 distinct civil UTC offsets represented in the directory, so the country page separates the regions.

Why is solar noon in Columbus far from 12:00?

The current civil offset and the city longitude do not place mean solar noon at twelve on the clock. Today the calculated solar noon is 1:16 pm.