Time in Toronto
Toronto is on Eastern Time, UTC−5 as EST in winter and UTC−4 as EDT from the second Sunday of March to the first Sunday of November, the same as New York. The clock shows the exact time with sunrise, sunset and conversions.
- Time zone
- —
- Abbreviation
- —
- UTC offset
- —
- Daylight saving
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- Compared with your clock
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- IANA time zone:
- America/Toronto
- Country:
- Canada
- Coordinates:
- 43.65° N, 79.38° W
- Clock changes in 2026:
- forward on March 8, 2026 · back on November 1, 2026 (UTC−5 / UTC−4)
Time in Toronto when it is 9:00, 12:00, 17:00 or 21:00 elsewhere
Each cell is the time in Toronto at that hour in the city on the left, using today's offsets.
| When it is … in | 9:00 AM | 12:00 PM | 5:00 PM | 9:00 PM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 9:00 AM | 12:00 PM | 5:00 PM | 9:00 PM |
| London | 4:00 AM | 7:00 AM | 12:00 PM | 4:00 PM |
| Paris | 3:00 AM | 6:00 AM | 11:00 AM | 3:00 PM |
| Dubai | 1:00 AM | 4:00 AM | 9:00 AM | 1:00 PM |
| Mumbai | 11:30 PM−1 | 2:30 AM | 7:30 AM | 11:30 AM |
| Singapore | 9:00 PM−1 | 12:00 AM | 5:00 AM | 9:00 AM |
| Tokyo | 8:00 PM−1 | 11:00 PM−1 | 4:00 AM | 8:00 AM |
| Sydney | 6:00 PM−1 | 9:00 PM−1 | 2:00 AM | 6:00 AM |
Sandford Fleming and the idea of time zones
Standard time has a strong Toronto connection. Sandford Fleming, the Scottish-born engineer who surveyed the Canadian Pacific Railway, presented his plan for worldwide time zones to the Canadian Institute in Toronto in 1879. North American railroads adopted zones in 1883, and the International Meridian Conference of 1884 set Greenwich as the prime meridian his scheme required.
Ontario changes its clocks with the United States. In 2020 the province passed a law to stay on daylight time permanently, but it only takes effect if Quebec and New York State do the same, so for now Toronto still switches twice a year, on March 8 and November 1 in 2026.
Working hours and cross-country calls
The Toronto Stock Exchange trades from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM Eastern, the same session as Wall Street. Vancouver is three hours behind, so a 12:00 PM meeting in Toronto is 9:00 AM on the Pacific coast; Halifax is one hour ahead and St. John's, Newfoundland, an hour and a half.
London is five hours ahead for most of the year, giving a comfortable morning overlap: 9:00 AM in Toronto is 2:00 PM in London. India is nine and a half hours ahead during EDT and ten and a half during EST, so 8:00 AM in Toronto is early evening in Mumbai. The EST to GMT table shows the transatlantic hours in detail.
Toronto sun times
Sunday, October 18, 2026, local time
- Sunrise
- 7:35 AM
- Sunset
- 6:29 PM
- Day length
- 10 h 53 min
- Solar noon
- 1:02 PM
| Date | Sunrise | Sunset | Day length |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun, Oct 18 | 7:35 AM | 6:29 PM | 10 h 53 min |
| Mon, Oct 19 | 7:36 AM | 6:27 PM | 10 h 51 min−2′ |
| Tue, Oct 20 | 7:38 AM | 6:25 PM | 10 h 48 min−3′ |
| Wed, Oct 21 | 7:39 AM | 6:24 PM | 10 h 45 min−3′ |
| Thu, Oct 22 | 7:40 AM | 6:22 PM | 10 h 42 min−3′ |
| Fri, Oct 23 | 7:41 AM | 6:21 PM | 10 h 39 min−3′ |
| Sat, Oct 24 | 7:43 AM | 6:19 PM | 10 h 37 min−2′ |
Approximate times (usually within two minutes), calculated from the city's coordinates with the NOAA solar equations. Hills, tall buildings and unusual air refraction can shift what you see.
Time zone converters for Toronto
Daylight through the seasons
At 43.7° north, Toronto gets about 15 hours 25 minutes of daylight at the June solstice, with sunrise near 5:35 AM and sunset just after 9:00 PM. In late December the sun rises around 7:50 AM and sets about 4:45 PM, roughly 8 hours 55 minutes.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Toronto on the same time as New York?
- Yes. Both use Eastern Time and change clocks on the same nights, so their clocks always match.
- Did Ontario abolish the clock change?
- Not yet. The 2020 Time Amendment Act would keep daylight time all year, but only once Quebec and New York adopt the same rule.
- How many hours behind Toronto is Vancouver?
- Three hours. British Columbia uses Pacific Time and changes clocks on the same dates as Ontario.
- Who came up with standard time zones?
- Several people proposed them, but Sandford Fleming's plan, presented in Toronto in 1879, is the best known and shaped the worldwide system adopted in the 1880s.