Washington, D.C. Time Now

Washington, D.C., keeps Eastern Time and follows the federal daylight saving rule set by the Energy Policy Act of 2005: clocks go forward on the second Sunday in March and back on the first Sunday in November, both at 2:00 AM local time. The US Department of Transportation's daylight saving page administers US time zones.

Because federal agencies, Congress and the courts all run on the capital's clock, Eastern Time is the default for most US national announcements and deadlines.

Two federal agencies keep official time for the United States. The National Institute of Standards and Technology runs atomic clocks in Boulder, Colorado, and the US Naval Observatory keeps the master clock for the Department of Defense, a short drive from the White House. The public clock at time.gov draws on both.

Congress has debated permanent daylight time several times, most recently with the Sunshine Protection Act, but no bill has become law, so the capital keeps changing twice a year.

Inside the US, the gaps from the capital are fixed: Chicago and Houston are one hour behind, Denver two, Seattle three, Anchorage four and Honolulu five or six. For calls with India, the EST to IST converter shows the half-hour steps; for London, the London clock explains why the gap is four hours for a few weeks a year.

The capital's position in the zone means late summer sunsets, around 8:35 PM in late June, and early winter darkness, before 5:00 PM in December.