Time ZonesAbout this time zone
Vancouver is one of the 23 time zone areas of Canada. Computers and phones know it by the zone name America/Vancouver. Its time is UTC−8 in January and UTC−7 in July, because the clocks are changed during the year. The short names used for this time are PST and PDT. Compared with India (IST), it is 13 hours 30 minutes behind India in January and 12 hours 30 minutes behind India in July.
Clock changes in 2026 and 2027
Vancouver changes its clocks during the year. These are the changes for 2026 and 2027, worked out from the rules in the IANA time zone database.
| Clock change (local time) | New offset |
|---|---|
| Sunday 8 March 2026: at 2:00 am clocks go forward 1 hour to 3:00 am | UTC−7 (PDT) |
No further change is listed after that, up to the end of 2027: the clocks stay at UTC−7.
Governments sometimes change these rules at short notice. Check an official source before fixing travel or meetings far ahead.
Time difference with major cities
| When it is 12:00 noon in Vancouver, it is | In January 2026 | In July 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| India | 1:30 am next day13 hours 30 minutes ahead | 12:30 am next day12 hours 30 minutes ahead |
| United Kingdom | 8:00 pm8 hours ahead | 8:00 pm8 hours ahead |
| France | 9:00 pm9 hours ahead | 9:00 pm9 hours ahead |
| New York, United States | 3:00 pm3 hours ahead | 3:00 pm3 hours ahead |
| Chicago, United States | 2:00 pm2 hours ahead | 2:00 pm2 hours ahead |
| Los Angeles, United States | 12:00 pmsame time | 12:00 pmsame time |
| United Arab Emirates | 12:00 am next day12 hours ahead | 11:00 pm11 hours ahead |
| Singapore | 4:00 am next day16 hours ahead | 3:00 am next day15 hours ahead |
| Japan | 5:00 am next day17 hours ahead | 4:00 am next day16 hours ahead |
| Sydney, Australia | 7:00 am next day19 hours ahead | 5:00 am next day17 hours ahead |
The table uses the offsets in force in mid January and mid July 2026. Use the converter for any other date.
Clock time and sun time in Vancouver
A time zone is an agreement, and the sun does not follow it exactly. Vancouver, the largest city in this zone, lies at about 123.1° west. Each degree of longitude is worth four minutes, so by the sun alone its time would be about 8 hours 12 minutes behind UTC. The clock is set to UTC−8. The sun is therefore highest in the sky at about 12:12 pm by the clock on standard time, and at about 1:12 pm while the clocks are moved (UTC−7). That is a close match: clock and sun agree to within a quarter of an hour. Other places in the zone, to the east or west of Vancouver, see the sun peak a little earlier or later. Through the year the figure also drifts by up to a quarter of an hour either way.
How long the day is
Vancouver is about 49.2° north of the equator. On the longest day of the year, around 21 June, the sun is up for about 16 hours 15 minutes. On the shortest, around 21 December, for about 8 hours 11 minutes. That swing of about 8 hours 4 minutes between summer and winter is the reason clocks are moved here: the extra summer daylight is shifted from the early morning to the evening.
Office hours shared with other places
If both sides work from 9 am to 6 pm, these are the hours when a call falls inside the working day at both ends. Times are for Vancouver.
- With India, in January: no shared office hour: 9:00 am here is 10:30 pm in India, and 6:00 pm here is 7:30 am there, so one side has to start early or stay late. In July: no shared office hour: 9:00 am here is 9:30 pm in India, and 6:00 pm here is 6:30 am there, so one side has to start early or stay late.
- With London, all year: 9:00 am to 10:00 am here, which is 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm in London (1 hour shared).
- With New York, all year: 9:00 am to 3:00 pm here, which is 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm in New York (6 hours shared).
How many people keep this time
The GeoNames list has 47 towns and cities of 15,000 people or more in this zone area, with about 4.2 million people between them. People in villages and smaller towns are not in that count, so the true number on this clock is higher.
Cities that keep this time
The largest cities in this zone: Vancouver, Surrey, Victoria, Burnaby, Richmond, Coquitlam, Kelowna, Abbotsford, Langley, Saanich, Kamloops, Delta, Chilliwack, Nanaimo.
The clock above uses your device's clock and the time zone rules built into your browser. Rules on this page: IANA time zone database 2026f. See About and data sources.