Time difference between Singapore and Anchorage

The gap is not the same all year

Every converter gives one number for this pair. That number is right for most of the year and wrong for part of it, because Singapore does not change its clocks and Anchorage goes forward on the second Sunday in March and back on the first Sunday in November.

Singapore stays put all year while Anchorage moves, so the gap changes twice a year from Anchorage's side alone. A recurring meeting set in Singapore's calendar will drift by an hour without anyone touching it.

About Singapore and Anchorage

Singapore is UTC+8 despite sitting almost on the equator at a longitude that suggests UTC+7. It moved forward in 1982 to align with Malaysia and never moved back, so solar noon falls at about 1 PM.

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.

What 16 hours actually costs you

There is no shared working hour at all. Nine to five in Singapore is 5:00 PM to 1:00 AM in Anchorage. Somebody has to be outside their working day, and the only question is who — so the useful thing is to decide that once rather than rediscover it every time.

The closest the two working days come is 9:00 AM in Singapore, which is 5:00 PM in Anchorage — both inside office hours, just barely. That is the slot to use, and it is the one people who work this pair already default to.

At 16 hours the two are far enough apart that the date stops matching. Midday in Singapore is 8:00 PM the previous day in Anchorage. "Tomorrow morning" means different things to the two of you, and a deadline given without a date attached will be missed by one side or the other.

When they can both be at their desks

Nine-to-five in Singapore and nine-to-five in Anchorage do not overlap at all. With 16 hours between them, one side is always outside working hours, and the practical question is which side takes the early start or the late finish rather than when to meet.

Singapore

Anchorage

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How far apart Singapore and Anchorage are

The shortest path over the Earth's surface between the two is 10,737 km (6,672 miles). Flown along that line, an airliner at cruising speed takes roughly 13 hours 25 minutes in the air — actual routings add to it, and whether a nonstop service exists depends on the airlines rather than the distance.

Over that distance you cross 16 hours of clock, which is where jet lag comes from: the body shifts by about an hour a day, so 16 hours takes most people 16 days or so to absorb. Flying west to Anchorage is the easier direction — you gain the hours, and staying up later comes more naturally than going to bed early.

Singapore to Anchorage, hour by hour

On the usual gap of 16 hours.

Frequently asked questions