Time difference between the United States and Spain
6 hours to 12 hours, depending on the city
Why there is no single answer
The United States spans 6 different offsets in this data — New York at UTC−5, Chicago at UTC−6, Denver at UTC−7, Los Angeles at UTC−8, Anchorage at UTC−9, Honolulu at UTC−10. One number cannot cover 6 offsets, so any single figure for "the United States to Spain" is a choice of city — declared or not. That is why two sources can both be right and still disagree, and why the useful answer is the table rather than the number.
Every combination
| From | To | Usual difference | Changes in the year |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | Madrid | 6 hours ahead | yes — also 5 hours |
| Chicago | Madrid | 7 hours ahead | yes — also 6 hours |
| Denver | Madrid | 8 hours ahead | yes — also 7 hours |
| Los Angeles | Madrid | 9 hours ahead | yes — also 8 hours |
| Anchorage | Madrid | 10 hours ahead | yes — also 9 hours |
| Honolulu | Madrid | 12 hours ahead | yes — also 11 hours |
When the gap moves
6 of these 6 combinations change by an hour at some point in the year. New York, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles and Anchorage go forward on the second Sunday in March and back on the first Sunday in November; Honolulu does not change its clocks; Madrid goes forward on the last Sunday in March and back on the last Sunday in October. Where the two sides change on different weekends, there is a stretch of days when the difference is what neither party expects.
Frequently asked questions
What is the time difference between the United States and Spain?
There is no single figure. the United States spans 6 of the offsets in this data, so the difference runs from 6 hours (New York to Madrid) to 12 hours (Honolulu to Madrid). Any converter giving one number for this pair has quietly picked a city.
How many hours ahead is Spain of the United States?
It depends which part of the United States you mean. The table on this page gives every combination; the extremes are 6 hours and 12 hours.
Does the difference between the United States and Spain change during the year?
Yes. 6 of the 6 city combinations here shift by an hour at some point, because the two sides change their clocks on different weekends or one of them does not change at all.
About these places
New York. New York is UTC−5 in winter and UTC−4 from March to November, and it changes clocks on different weekends from Europe — a fortnight in March and a week in autumn when the transatlantic gap is an hour off what everyone expects.
Chicago. Chicago is UTC−6 in winter, the US Central zone, and the one people most often mean by an unqualified "CST" — a reading that collides with China Standard Time fourteen hours the other way.
Denver. Denver is UTC−7 in winter, the US Mountain zone, and the smallest of the four continental US zones by population. Arizona, in the same zone, does not change its clocks, so for half the year Denver and Phoenix are an hour apart.
Los Angeles. Los Angeles is UTC−8 in winter and UTC−7 from March to November. California voted in 2018 to move to permanent daylight saving and has not been able to: the change needs an act of Congress, which has not come.
Anchorage. Alaska is UTC−9 in winter, one hour behind the US Pacific coast, and covers a longitude range that would justify four zones. The state consolidated into one in 1983 so that Anchorage business hours would overlap with the rest of the country.
Honolulu. Hawaii is UTC−10 and does not change its clocks, so it drifts an hour further from the mainland every March. It is the furthest behind of any populated US zone, and the overlap with a European working day is essentially nil.
Madrid. Spain is on Central European Time and sits west of Britain — Madrid is at the same longitude as Cardiff and keeps clocks an hour ahead of it. Franco moved the country onto German time in 1940 and it stayed, which is the reason Spanish dinner is at ten.
The same pair from the other end
This page reads the difference as Spain against the United States. Spain to the United States states the same gap the other way round, which is the one to send someone if they are the one doing the travelling.
Other country pairs
- the United States to the United Kingdom
- the United States to Ireland
- the United States to Portugal
- the United States to France
- the United States to Germany
- the United States to Italy
- the United States to the Netherlands
- the United States to Sweden
- the United States to Poland
- the United States to Greece
Every the United States pair · All country pairs · City pairs