Current Time in Anchorage

Alaska follows the federal daylight saving rule: clocks go forward at 2:00 AM on the second Sunday in March and back at 2:00 AM on the first Sunday in November. The US Department of Transportation's daylight saving page oversees US time zones and their boundaries.

Until 1983 Alaska was split across four time zones. That year most of the state, including Anchorage and Juneau, was brought onto one zone, now Alaska Time, to make business and government easier. Only the far western Aleutians kept a separate hour.

At about 61° north, Anchorage has a huge swing in daylight: around 19 hours in late June and under 6 hours in late December. Moving the clock by one hour makes little difference against that, which is why people in Alaska often talk about shifting it permanently. For now the state still changes twice a year.

Because Alaska changes on the US dates, its gaps to other US cities never move: Seattle is one hour ahead, Denver two, Houston three and New York four. The Seattle clock shows the nearest neighbor on the mainland, and Honolulu is one hour behind Anchorage in winter and two in summer.

For travelers, the practical point is that Alaska is far west of the other US zones. A morning flight from Anchorage to the East Coast lands in the evening, and a call at 9:00 AM in Anchorage reaches New York at 1:00 PM, after many offices there have already had lunch. Cruise schedules and Alaska Railroad timetables all use Alaska Time.