Convert PST to EST

Quick converter

PST to EST at a glance

To convert Pacific to Eastern, add 3 hours. To go the other way, see Convert EST to PST.

West Coast financial timing and US markets

The New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ open at 9:30 AM EST — which is 6:30 AM PST. Pre-market trading starts at 4:00 AM EST (1:00 AM PST). West Coast traders, analysts, and employees with stock compensation who want to track the opening bell are at their desks before 7 AM Pacific: a direct, daily consequence of the 3-hour gap. Earnings calls typically happen at market open or mid-morning Eastern, placing them at 6:30–8:00 AM Pacific for on-time tuning. For multi-city scheduling across Pacific, Mountain, Central, and Eastern, the ZoneKit Time Zone Converter handles all four zones from a single source time.

Remote work and the PST-to-EST asymmetry

The direction of the conversion matters more in practice than the number. An Eastern-based team that books a 9 AM EST daily standup is giving West Coast members a 6 AM start — before most alarm clocks. The reverse — a West Coast team that schedules a 5 PM PST all-hands — is handing Eastern participants an 8 PM close after a full workday. Both are technically within business hours; neither is comfortable as a recurring pattern. The PST-to-EST conversion helps West Coast employees understand what the East Coast working day looks like from their perspective, so they can book overlap-friendly slots (roughly 8–11 AM Pacific maps to 11 AM–2 PM Eastern) rather than accidentally scheduling outside anyone's core hours. The Meeting Planner colour-codes sleeping, edge, and working hours per city — the quickest way to see the comfortable overlap at a glance.

Why the gap is always exactly 3 hours

The US Pacific and Eastern zones both follow the same federal daylight saving schedule. Clocks spring forward on the second Sunday of March and fall back on the first Sunday of November — on the same day in both zones. Because they shift together, the difference stays locked at 3 hours in every season. Pacific is the westernmost of the four main continental US zones and Eastern the easternmost, so 3 hours is the widest gap within the lower 48 states.

PST vs PDT, EST vs EDT

The "S" names (PST, EST) are the standard-time winter labels; the "D" names (PDT, EDT) are the summer daylight-time labels. Pacific runs at UTC-8 in winter and UTC-7 in summer; Eastern runs at UTC-5 in winter and UTC-4 in summer. Most people say "PST" and "EST" loosely to mean Pacific and Eastern Time all year. Whatever the season, Pacific stays exactly 3 hours behind Eastern.

Frequently asked questions

Major cities in Pacific and Eastern Time

The Pacific zone covers the western seaboard: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Las Vegas, and San Diego. The Eastern zone covers the most populous end of the country: New York, Boston, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Miami, Atlanta, and Detroit. At 3 hours, this is the widest time gap within the contiguous 48 states.

Who converts PST to EST most often

West Coast workers running PST-to-EST conversions are usually trying to reach New York before the business day ends there. A San Francisco engineer wanting to reach a New York client by close of business has until 2 PM Pacific — after that, it's past 5 PM Eastern. Start-ups pitching East Coast investors book calls in the Pacific morning to land during active New York hours. Remote workers employed by East Coast companies who work from the West Coast check this conversion for every company meeting. The conversion is also important for market watchers: US stock markets open at 9:30 AM EST, which is 6:30 AM PST — a reason many West Coast finance professionals start unusually early.

Related conversion guides

• Convert EST to PST — the reverse direction
• Convert CST to EST — Central to Eastern, 1 hour
• Convert UTC to EST — the universal reference to Eastern
• Time difference between New York and Los Angeles — the cities behind these zones
• What is UTC? — how time-zone offsets work