In my series ‘Short questions and answers about Austria‘, one question that comes up a lot from Americans I know is “What time is it in Austria compared to the United States”?
Or “How many hours ahead of the United States is Austria?”.
Of course, there being several time zones in the United States and only one time zone in Austria, it depends on where you are located in the U.S. as to what the time difference will be between you and those of us living or visiting Austria.
Here then is what you need to know to be able to calculate what time it is in Austria compared to where you are in the United States at any given day of the year.
What time is it in Austria compared to the United States?
During Daylight Savings time, which takes place in the U.S. from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November, Austria is six hours ahead of whichever time zone you are in.
That means if the time is 12 PM in Austria on a Monday, it is the following times in the United States depending on which America time zone you are currently in:
Monday, 6 AM (EDT) — Washington, DC/New York etc (6 hours behind Austria)
Monday, 5 AM (CDT) — Chicago etc (7 hours behind Austria)
Monday, 4 AM (MDT) –– Denver etc (8 hours behind Austria)
Monday, 3 AM (MST) — Phoenix etc (9 hours behind Austria)
Monday, 3 AM (PDT) — Los Angeles etc (9 hours behind Austria)
Monday, 2 AM (AKDT) — Anchorage (10 hours behind Austria)
Monday, Midnight (HST) — Honolulu (12 hours behind Austria)
The two short periods of the year when the time difference between the U.S. and Austria is slightly different.
While the time in Austria will have the same time differences (6 hours to 12 hours) in the United States for most of the year, there are two periods where the time difference will be slightly different.
That is because the United States and Austria change to Daylight Savings Time and back to Standard Time at different times of the year.
The United States’ Daylight Savings Time (DST) starts on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November, while Austria changes to DST from the last Sunday in March (02:00 CET) to the last Sunday in October (03:00 CEST).
RELATED: When does Daylight Savings Time happen in Austria?
That means from the second Sunday in March to the last Sunday in March and from the last Sunday in October to the first Sunday in November, Austria is 5 HOURS TO 11 HOURS AHEAD of which ever American time zone you are located in instead of 6 HOURS TO 12 HOURS.
Time Zone Converter to convert time difference between the United States and Austria
And, just in case this is all very complicated, you can actually calculate the time in Austria compared to the time zone of the U.S. you are currently in for any day of the year via this excellent Time Zone Converter on the website Time and Date.