You’re trying to set a Zoom call with a colleague in Scottsdale, or maybe you’re just landing at Sky Harbor and realized your phone hasn't updated. You ask yourself: what time is phoenix? It seems like a simple question. But in the Grand Canyon State, time is a bit of a rebel.
Most of the United States plays a biannual game of musical chairs with their clocks. We "spring forward" and "fall back," usually ending up grumpy and sleep-deprived for a week. Phoenix doesn’t do that. Since 1968, the city—and most of Arizona—has stayed put on Mountain Standard Time (MST).
If it’s January 2026, Phoenix is currently 7 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC-7).
The "Time Traveler" Effect: How Phoenix Shifts Without Moving
Here is the part that trips everyone up. Phoenix never changes its clocks, but the rest of the world does. This creates a weird seasonal shift where Phoenix effectively switches neighbors twice a year.
When the rest of the country is on Standard Time (roughly November to March), Phoenix is on the same time as Denver and Salt Lake City. You’re two hours behind New York and one hour ahead of Los Angeles. Easy, right?
Then March hits. The "Spring Forward" happens.
Suddenly, Denver jumps an hour ahead of Phoenix. For the next eight months, Phoenix has the exact same time as Los Angeles. If you’re a business owner in Phoenix, your "Pacific Time" clients suddenly feel like they’re in the same building as you. It’s convenient, but it makes scheduling a nightmare for anyone living outside the state who assumes Arizona follows the "Mountain" rules.
Why Phoenix Refused to "Save" Daylight
Why the stubbornness? Honestly, it’s about the heat.
Back in the 1960s, after the Uniform Time Act was passed, Arizona tried out Daylight Saving Time for one year. It was a disaster. In a place like Phoenix, where summer temperatures regularly cruise past 110 degrees, nobody wants more sunlight in the evening.
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Think about it. If Phoenix moved the clocks forward in the summer, the sun wouldn’t set until nearly 9:00 PM. That’s an extra hour of the desert sun beating down on houses, forcing air conditioners to chug along at max capacity during the most expensive peak-usage hours.
State leaders, like former Governor Jack Williams, realized that staying on Standard Time actually saved energy. It also allowed residents to go outside for a walk or a patio dinner at a reasonable hour without melting. Arizonans value their "cool" nights—if you can call 90 degrees at midnight cool—more than they value extra evening light.
The Navajo Nation "Donut" Complication
If you think you’ve got it figured out, let me throw a wrench in the gears. While we say "Arizona doesn't observe DST," that isn't strictly true for the whole state.
The Navajo Nation, which covers a massive chunk of northeastern Arizona, does observe Daylight Saving Time. They do this to stay in sync with their tribal lands in New Mexico and Utah.
But wait, it gets weirder.
The Hopi Reservation is entirely surrounded by the Navajo Nation. The Hopi, however, follow the rest of Arizona and do not observe DST.
If you drive from Phoenix to the Navajo Nation and then through the Hopi lands during the summer, your car’s clock might change four or five times in a single afternoon. Locals call it the "time donut." It’s one of the few places in the world where you can be a time traveler just by crossing a street.
Quick Reference for Phoenix Time Offsets
- Eastern Time: Phoenix is 2 hours behind in winter, 3 hours behind in summer.
- Central Time: Phoenix is 1 hour behind in winter, 2 hours behind in summer.
- Mountain Time: Phoenix is the same in winter, 1 hour behind (MDT) in summer.
- Pacific Time: Phoenix is 1 hour ahead in winter, the same in summer.
How to Not Miss Your Meeting
If you’re traveling or working with people in Phoenix, don't trust your gut. Your brain will tell you "it's Mountain Time," and you'll be an hour late for your summer meeting.
The most reliable way to handle this is to search for "Phoenix time" specifically rather than "Mountain Time." Most modern calendar apps like Google Calendar or Outlook handle this well if you set the location to "Phoenix" rather than a generic GMT offset.
Actionable Next Steps:
- Check your settings: If you're scheduling a meeting for someone in Phoenix, specifically select "Arizona Time" or "Mountain Standard Time" (not Mountain Daylight) in your calendar invite.
- Manual Updates: If you’re driving into the Navajo Nation from Phoenix during the summer, manually lock your phone's clock if you have a tight appointment; otherwise, the towers will bounce you back and forth between hours.
- Summer Planning: If you're visiting Phoenix in July, plan your outdoor activities for sunrise. By the time 10:00 AM hits, the "standard time" advantage is gone and the heat is in full swing.