Why does the time difference change during the year?

Because many regions move their clocks for daylight saving, and they do so on different dates. When one city springs forward or falls back and the other does not, the gap between them shifts by an hour. London and Sydney, for instance, are nine hours apart during the northern summer but eleven hours apart in the northern winter. Use “Check another date” to see the difference for a specific day, such as your travel dates.

How do I know which city is ahead and which is behind?

Cities to the east are generally ahead (their clocks read a later time) and cities to the west are behind. The calculator states it in plain words — for example “Tokyo is 14 hours ahead of New York” — and the arrow between the two clocks points toward the city that is ahead. If the two cities are in the same zone, the difference is shown as none.

Can the difference be a half or quarter hour?

Yes. Not every zone is a whole number of hours from its neighbours. India runs on UTC+5:30, Nepal on UTC+5:45, and parts of Australia on UTC+9:30, so differences involving these places include 30 or 45 minutes. The calculator applies these fractional offsets exactly, so a gap like “9 hours 30 minutes” is shown precisely rather than rounded.

Does the difference depend on the date I pick?

The gap depends on whether each city is observing daylight saving on that date, so the difference can vary through the year even though the underlying zones do not move. For today’s gap, leave the calculator live; to plan ahead, switch to a specific date and the calculator recomputes the difference using each city’s rules for that day.

How is this different from a time zone converter?

This tool answers “how far apart are these two cities?” — a single gap in hours and minutes. A time zone converter answers “if it is this time here, what time is it there?”, translating a specific moment between zones. Use this when you just need the difference between two places, and the converter when you need to turn one exact time into another.

Time Difference Between Cities

The Time Difference Between Cities calculator tells you exactly how many hours one city is ahead of or behind another. Pick two cities and it shows each one’s live local time on its own analog clock and the precise gap between them — for example, “London is 5 hours ahead of New York”. Because daylig…

COMPARE TWO CITIES

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HOW TO USE

1
Pick your first city and your second city.
2
Keep it live for the current difference, or use “Check another date” for a specific day.
3
Read how many hours ahead or behind the second city is, with both live clocks and the direction arrow.
4
Use Share or Embed to save or post the comparison.

HOW THE DIFFERENCE IS FOUND

Each city has an offset from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), and the time difference between two cities is simply the gap between their offsets. If one city is UTC−4 and the other UTC+5:30, the difference is nine and a half hours, with the second city ahead. Because many places move their clocks for daylight saving on different dates, the gap can change through the year — two cities might be five hours apart in one season and six in another. The calculator reads each city’s current rules, so the difference shown is always the correct one for the date you pick.

WHAT PEOPLE USE IT FOR

Calling family abroad

Check how many hours ahead or behind a loved one is before you dial, so you never call at 3 a.m.

Scheduling with colleagues

Know the exact gap to another office to find a slot that suits both sides.

Planning a trip

See the difference to your destination — and how it shifts if your travel dates cross a daylight-saving change.

Watching live events

Work out how far ahead or behind a broadcast, match or launch in another city is.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Choose the two cities and the calculator shows the gap between their time zones, along with each city’s current local time. The difference is the distance between their offsets from UTC, and a short sentence tells you which city is ahead and by how much. You never have to work out the hours yourself, and the arrow between the clocks shows the direction at a glance.

Select a first and second city.
The gap between their UTC offsets is the time difference.
A sentence states which city is ahead and by how many hours.
Both cities’ live times are shown on analog clocks.

NOTES & REFERENCES

The difference is the gap between each city’s current UTC offset, using the IANA time zone database via your browser.
Daylight saving is applied per city, so the gap can differ by an hour depending on the date — use “Check another date” to compare.
Some zones use 30- or 45-minute offsets (for example India at UTC+5:30), which the calculator handles exactly.
Live times are read from your device clock and update every second.

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Last updated: — · DST-aware city comparison via the IANA time zone database · Verified by the EagleCalculator team · Eagle-eyed accuracy for every calculation.