How many Time Zones are there in the US?

The U.S. code defines the varied time zones in the USA. Before the adoption of four standard time zones, most of the cities and towns depended on sunrise and sunsets for determining the time of the day.

With modernization embracing the nation, the use of solar time seemed awkward. Thus, the American railways and telecommunication started maintaining different time zones during the late 1800s. Every city in the U.S. started using different time zones, which made the calculations very difficult. This problem led to the creation of standard time zones in the U.S.

Different Time Zones In The USA

Initially ( 18 November 1883), the US got divided into 4 standard time zones, and authority for these zones was given to the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC). The US Department of Transportation (DOT) has been responsible for governing time zones in the country since 1967.

Most of the U.S states use Daylight Saving Time (DST), whereas Arizona and Hawaii don't use DST.

The legal civil time anywhere in the U.S can be calculated by combining the time zone and daylight saving rules with the time keeping services.

How Many Time Zones Are There in the US?

The adjoining US has 4 standard time zones. Apart from this Alaska, Hawaii and five US dependencies have their separate time zones. Because neither Hawaii nor the five dependencies depend on the Daylight Saving Time (DST), there are only 6 consistent DST time zones.

The contiguous US often refer to these time zones with their standard names without making any difference between standard time and Daylight Saving Time. For instance: Eastern Time (ET) denotes Eastern Standard Time (EST) or Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The local time in these time zones keeps changing when DST starts and ends. 

Most of these time zones are used during different parts of the year. They become active again once the clock change as Daylight Saving Time begins or ends.

Time Zones Being Used in Dependencies of United States

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(Featured Image Courtesy: Time And Date)