Alaska Time Zones Explained: Two Zones Across One State

Why do the Aleutian Islands have a different time zone than Anchorage?

A single state, two clocks, and a named zone that splits in half every spring. The western Aleutian Islands run on Hawaii-Aleutian Time. The rest of Alaska, including Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau, keeps Alaska Time. The boundary sits at roughly 169°30'W.

That split is the legacy of a 1983 consolidation that collapsed four time zones into two. The goal was simpler scheduling across the state while preserving reasonable daylight hours for the remote western islands. The result is a system where the same zone name can mean two different offsets depending on the season and the island.

Alaska Time Zone: Most of the State

Alaska Time covers roughly the eastern 90% of the state, including all major cities.

• Alaska Standard Time (AKST): UTC−9
• Alaska Daylight Time (AKDT): UTC−8

When it’s noon in Anchorage during the winter months, it’s 1:00 p.m. in Los Angeles and 4:00 p.m. in Washington D.C. During the summer, the gap holds: noon AKDT is 1:00 p.m. PDT and 4:00 p.m. EDT.

Anchorage and Fairbanks follow the same DST schedule as the rest of the US. Clocks spring forward on the second Sunday of March and fall back on the first Sunday of November.

Hawaii-Aleutian Time Zone: The Western Aleutians

The Hawaii-Aleutian zone covers two separate, unrelated areas: the entire state of Hawaii and the portion of the Aleutian Islands west of 169°30'W.

• Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time (HAST or HST): UTC−10
• Hawaii-Aleutian Daylight Time (HADT or HDT): UTC−9

The zone’s winter offset (UTC−10) sits one hour behind Alaska Time (UTC−9) and two hours behind Pacific Time (UTC−8).

The DST Split Within the Hawaii-Aleutian Zone

Here is the catch. Hawaii does not observe DST. Hawaii stays on HAST (UTC−10) year-round. The Aleutian portion of the zone, which is part of Alaska, does observe it.

So during the summer:

• Hawaii stays on HAST (UTC−10)
• The western Aleutian Islands switch to HADT (UTC−9)

For half the year, the Hawaii-Aleutian zone has two different clocks. Adak runs an hour ahead of Honolulu even though both sit inside the same named zone. When a schedule or device says “Hawaii-Aleutian Time,” check whether DST is active and whether the location is Hawaii or the Aleutians.

How Alaska’s Time Compares to the Mainland US

During the winter:

• Alaska Time (AKST, UTC−9) is 1 hour behind Pacific Time (PST, UTC−8)
• Alaska Time is 2 hours behind Mountain Time (MST, UTC−7)
• Alaska Time is 3 hours behind Central Time (CST, UTC−6)
• Alaska Time is 4 hours behind Eastern Time (EST, UTC−5)
• Hawaii-Aleutian (HAST, UTC−10) is 1 hour behind Alaska Time

During the summer:

• Alaska Time (AKDT, UTC−8) is the same as Pacific Time (PDT, UTC−8)
• Hawaii stays at HAST (UTC−10), so it is 2 hours behind Alaska Time and 3 hours behind Pacific Time

Alaska Time Zone Offsets at a Glance