Current time in San Diego, CA
Pacific Time UTC−8 · IANA zone America/Los_Angeles
Time zone details
| Time zone | Pacific Time (PT) |
|---|---|
| Standard time | PST, UTC−8 (early Nov – mid Mar) |
| Daylight time | PDT, UTC−7 (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 | 32.72° N, 117.16° W |
Time difference from San Diego
| City | Local time now |
|---|---|
| New York | +3 h |
| Chicago | +2 h |
| Denver | +1 h |
| Phoenix | +1 / 0 h |
| Anchorage | −1 h |
| Honolulu | −2 / −3 h |
San Diego keeps Pacific Time with Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle — and with Tijuana across the border.
About time in San Diego
San Diego, seat of San Diego County and California's second-largest city, occupies the state's far southwestern corner, where the Pacific Time Zone meets the Mexican border.
Tijuana, immediately to the south, follows US daylight saving dates: Baja California's border strip kept its seasonal clock change even after Mexico ended DST nationally in 2022, so crossing at San Ysidro — one of the busiest land borders in the Western Hemisphere — never requires resetting a watch.
At 32.7° N San Diego has the mildest daylight swing of the big West Coast cities: about 14 hours 15 minutes of daylight in late June and very nearly 10 hours in late December.
Time in cities near San Diego
| City | Distance | Local time now |
|---|---|---|
| Irvine, CA | 77 mi | Pacific Time |
| Santa Ana, CA | 82 mi | Pacific Time |
| Riverside, CA | 88 mi | Pacific Time |
| Anaheim, CA | 89 mi | Pacific Time |
| Long Beach, CA | 94 mi | Pacific Time |
| Los Angeles, CA | 111 mi | Pacific Time |
| Bakersfield, CA | 212 mi | Pacific Time |
| Henderson, NV | 261 mi | Pacific Time |
More places: all California cities · Pacific Time Zone · every US city
Frequently asked questions
What time zone is San Diego in?
San Diego is in the Pacific Time Zone (PT): PST (UTC−8) in winter, PDT (UTC−7) from the second Sunday of March through the first Sunday of November, like the rest of California.
What is the time difference between San Diego and New York?
San Diego runs 3 hours behind New York in every season, because California and New York share identical daylight saving dates. 3:00 PM in New York is noon in San Diego.
Does San Diego observe daylight saving time?
Yes. San Diego moves clocks forward at 2:00 AM on the second Sunday of March and back at 2:00 AM on the first Sunday of November — in 2026, March 8 and November 1. Tijuana changes on the same dates.