Current time in Charlotte, NC
Eastern Time UTC−5 · IANA zone America/New_York
Time zone details
| Time zone | Eastern Time (ET) |
|---|---|
| Standard time | EST, UTC−5 (early Nov – mid Mar) |
| Daylight time | EDT, UTC−4 (mid Mar – early Nov) |
| DST clock change | Forward 1 h, 2nd Sunday of March · Back 1 h, 1st Sunday of November |
| Sunrise today | — |
| Sunset today | — |
| Day length | — |
| Coordinates | 35.23° N, 80.84° W |
Time difference from Charlotte
| City | Local time now |
|---|---|
| Chicago | −1 h |
| Denver | −2 h |
| Phoenix | −2 / −3 h |
| Los Angeles | −3 h |
| Anchorage | −4 h |
| Honolulu | −5 / −6 h |
Charlotte trades in the same hour as New York, Atlanta, and every other city of the Eastern Time Zone.
About time in Charlotte
Charlotte, the seat of Mecklenburg County on the South Carolina border, is the second-largest banking center in the United States after New York. Being in the same zone as Wall Street matters here: uptown trading floors and bank operations run to the 9:30 AM – 4:00 PM Eastern market session with no conversion at all.
Sitting near 80.8° W, Charlotte is one of the more westerly major cities at its latitude still on Eastern Time; its clocks read about 23 minutes ahead of the local sun, pushing late-June sunsets to around 8:45 PM.
Charlotte Douglas International Airport, one of the busiest hubs in the country, banks its connecting flights on ET timetables. Daylight at 35.2° N spans roughly 9 hours 45 minutes in late December to 14 hours 30 minutes at the June solstice.
Frequently asked questions
What time zone is Charlotte in?
Charlotte, North Carolina is in the Eastern Time Zone (ET) — EST (UTC−5) in winter and EDT (UTC−4) from the second Sunday of March to the first Sunday of November.
How far ahead is Charlotte of Los Angeles?
Charlotte is 3 hours ahead of Los Angeles every day of the year; both zones move their clocks for daylight saving on the same dates, so the gap never varies. See the EST to PST chart.
Does Charlotte change clocks for daylight saving time?
Yes. Charlotte turns clocks forward one hour at 2:00 AM on the second Sunday of March and back one hour at 2:00 AM on the first Sunday of November (March 8 and November 1 in 2026). Full dates on the DST page.