Time Difference Calculator

How it works

The difference between two places is computed from the offsets both are using at the moment you ask, not from a stored table. That matters because the gap is not a fixed property of a pair of cities: it changes whenever either one moves its clocks, and the two rarely move on the same date.

The result is given as hours and minutes because a good number of zones use fractional offsets. India runs at UTC+5:30, Nepal at UTC+5:45, and parts of Australia and Canada use half hours too. Rounding those to the nearest hour is a common and expensive mistake.

Because the comparison is made at the current instant, a difference read today is not automatically the difference in three months. Where a recurring meeting matters, check the date you actually care about.

Examples

London and New York. Five hours apart for most of the year, but four for two short stretches, because the UK and the United States change their clocks on different dates. Those mismatch windows in March and late October are where recurring meetings silently move by an hour.

India and the UK. Four and a half hours in winter, five and a half in summer. The half hour catches out anyone assuming offsets are whole numbers — India, Iran, Newfoundland and parts of Australia all use fractional ones.

A pair that never moves. Compare against Dubai or Tokyo and the difference genuinely is fixed, which makes them convenient anchors for a long-running series of calls.

Practical notes

A difference is only meaningful with a date attached. Two cities can be five hours apart in January, four in March and five again in April, purely because their governments picked different changeover weekends. If you are planning a recurring meeting, check the difference on a date in each season.

Half-hour and quarter-hour offsets are real and are easy to get wrong from memory. India is five and a half hours from UTC, Nepal five and three quarters, and the Chatham Islands run forty-five minutes ahead of New Zealand.

The comparison is between zones, not between working days. Two places three hours apart may share no working hours at all if one of them starts late, and two places nine hours apart may still overlap for an hour. For scheduling, the meeting planner answers the more useful question.

Frequently asked questions

Why does the difference change during the year?

Because the two locations start and end daylight saving on different dates, or one of them does not observe it at all. The standard-time difference shown alongside is the year-round baseline.

What is the time difference between India and New York?

India stays on UTC+5:30 all year. New York is on UTC−5 in winter and UTC−4 in summer, so the difference is 10 hours 30 minutes or 9 hours 30 minutes depending on the date. The tool shows the current figure.

Do half-hour zones work?

Yes. India, Iran, parts of Australia and Nepal’s 45-minute offset are all handled exactly.

Why is the difference not a whole number of hours?

Several zones run on 30- or 45-minute offsets: India at UTC+5:30, Nepal at UTC+5:45, the Chatham Islands at UTC+12:45. Offsets are political choices, not multiples of anything.

Does the difference change during the year?

Often, yes. Unless both places keep a fixed offset, the gap shifts when either one changes its clocks — and they rarely change on the same date.

Which direction is "ahead"?

A place is ahead if its local clock reads later. Tokyo is ahead of London; New York is behind it.

Can two places be more than 24 hours apart?

Yes, up to 26. Offsets run from UTC−12 to UTC+14, so the extremes are more than a day apart in local date terms.

Can I compare a city with UTC?

Yes. Enter UTC as one side to see a city's current offset directly, which is the figure you want for logs and APIs.

Which city is ahead, London or Sydney?

Sydney, by nine to eleven hours depending on the season — both observe daylight saving but in opposite halves of the year, which is why the gap moves so much.