Due to how far Hawaii is from the mainland United States, it is in its own time zone. As you may know, many US states have multiple time zones, but what about Hawaii? How many time zones are there in Hawaii?
There is just a single time zone in Hawaii. This is Hawaii Standard Time (HST). This is UTC-10. This time zone is also, partially, shared by certain parts of Alaska.
On this page, we want to tell you more about the Hawaiian Time Zone, as well as give you a bit more information on which places share the same time zone as the state.
How Many Time Zones Are There In Hawaii?
Hawaii only has one time zone. This is Hawaii Standard Time (HST). You may sometimes see this referred to as either HT or Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time. This applies to all eight islands in Hawaii, and not just the main ones. Even though the islands are rather spread out, they all share the same time zone.
Interestingly, the modern Hawaii time zone is fairly new. As we mentioned a bit earlier on, Hawaii exists in UTC-10. However, from 1900 to 1947, it was UTC-10:30. Back then, the time zone had exactly the same name. The time zone offset changed to bring Hawaii in line with the rest of the United States, as well as places in the surrounding area that were using UTC-10 as their time zone.
At no point has Hawaii ever been in multiple time zones, though.
Does Hawaii Use Daylight Saving Time?
Hawaii does not use Daylight Saving Time. It is close enough to the equator that the day/night cycle is roughly the same in the summer as it is in the winter. Hawaii used to recognize DST, but it stopped in 1945. It is unlikely that Hawaii will ever bring back DST, especially since there seems to be an overall push in the United States to ditch DST altogether.
However, parts of Alaska, which are also on HST, will have DST. This means that the Aleutian Islands in Alaska will not always have the same time as Hawaii. In the summer months, they will switch to HDT, which is UTC-9.
Interestingly, there are other parts of Alaska that do match up to Hawaii when they use DST. This is because most of Alaska is normally one hour ahead of Hawaii. However, when DST kicks in, the clocks move forward an hour, matching Alaskan Time with Hawaiian TIme. Although, do bear in mind that this doesn’t mean that Hawaii now runs on HT. It will still work on Alaskan Time (AKT) which becomes AKDT during the DST parts of the year.
Other Names For The Hawaiian Time Zone
The name ‘Hawaiian Time’ is given by the United States. It is only referenced within the United States. There are other places in the UTC-10, and each has its own time zone name:
- Cook Island Time (CKT)
- Tahiti Time (TAHT)
- Whiskey Time Zone (W)
Most of these places will not use DST either. Again, they are going to be close enough to the equator that they do not need to do so.
As previously mentioned, the Hawaiian Time Zone can also be referred to as the Hawaiian-Aleutian Time Zone, although this is rarely used in practice. You will more likely find it abbreviated as HT or HST.
Which Other Places Use Hawaiian Time?
Hawaii and Alaska are the only parts of the United States to follow HST. It is only a small portion of Alaska too. The Aleutian Islands, which are that small island ‘bridge’ between the US and Russia also follow Hawaii Time. Most of them are in exactly the same time zone as Hawaii.
In addition to the American states, Hawaiian Time, albeit under a different name, is followed in:
- Parts of French Polynesia
- Cook Islands (part of New Zealand)
Other places were, at one stage, in Hawaiian Time. This includes Samoa and the Line Islands. However, both of those now exist on UTC+14 instead.
Why Does Hawaii Have a Different Time Zone to the Western United States?
Hawaii is almost 4,000 miles away from the west coast of the United States. This means that it is in a completely different time zone.
If Hawaii was in the same time zone as the west coast of the United States, then the day would look incredibly odd. The sun will be rising long after people get up for work for the day, and it will be setting a long time after they head to bed. It just wouldn’t be very nice at all.
There isn’t really any need for Hawaii to even be operating close to the same time zone as the rest of the United States either. It isn’t like people are hopping from Hawaii to California to do a bit of work before heading home again. Hawaii is very much self-contained.
How Does Hawaiian Time Correspond To Other Major Time Zones in the US?
Assuming that a state is not in the middle of Daylight Savings Time (normally March to November), it would look like this:
- Alaskan Time is one hour ahead of Hawaii
- Pacific Time is two hours ahead of Hawaii
- Mountain Time is three hours ahead of Hawaii
- Central Time is six hours ahead of Hawaii
- Eastern Time is five hours ahead of Hawaii.
When DST is active, which it will be in all other US states apart from Alaska, then subtract one hour from these times i.e. Pacific Time will be one hour ahead of Hawaii as opposed to two.
Final Thoughts
Hawaii has just a single time zone. This is Hawaii Standard Time (HST). They do not use DST. The only other place in the US to share a time zone with Hawaii is the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. In the winter months, they are on HST. They do, however, use DST. This means during the summer months, the Aleutian Islands turn to HDT.
