EST(Eastern Standard Time)
Eastern Standard Time (EST) is the standard time of the North American east coast, five hours behind UTC.
- UTC offset
- UTC−05:00
- Abbreviation
- EST
- Full name
- Eastern Standard Time
- Military letter
- Romeo (R)
- Regions
- Eastern United States, Eastern Canada, Panama, Western Caribbean
- IANA zones
- America/New_York, America/Toronto, America/Panama, America/Jamaica
- Converter model
- Fixed offset.
What EST means
EST is the standard time of the eastern United States and eastern Canada, and the same offset is kept year-round by Panama, Jamaica and much of the western Caribbean.
- EST is probably the most quoted time-zone abbreviation in business writing, which is exactly why the Australian meaning causes confusion.
Cities on this offset
These cities keep UTC−05:00 as their standard offset:
- New York
- Toronto
- Miami
- Montréal
- Panama City
Other meanings of EST
EST is used for more than one time zone. This page describes Eastern Standard Time; the other meanings have their own pages and their own offsets:
- EST — Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC+10:00)
Zones with the same offset
- CST — Cuba Standard Time (UTC−05:00)
History
Eastern time grew out of the railway standard zones of 1883 and is anchored on the meridian 75° west, near Philadelphia.