When Do the Clocks Change in Georgia?

Time Zones in Georgia

Georgia keeps one clock statewide, covering the whole state. It is 10:18 AM there right now.

What Actually Changes: Sunrise and Sunset

The hour on the clock is not the part anyone notices. This is what the change does to daylight in Atlanta, comparing the day before with the day after.

The amount of daylight barely moves across those two days — roughly the same number of hours either side. What moves is where those hours sit: the clock change shifts them from the evening to the morning, or back again. Full sunrise and sunset detail for Atlanta.

What Stands Out About Georgia

The clock runs well ahead of the sun here

In Atlanta solar noon falls at 1:24 PM, which puts the clock 84 minutes ahead of the sun. States near the western edge of their time zone get long, late evenings in summer and mornings that stay dark well past the start of the school run in winter. It is the same rule everywhere; Georgia just sits at the far end of it.

Daylight swings by 4h 29m across the year

Atlanta gets 14h 24m of daylight at midsummer and 9h 55m in December. The clock change does not add or remove any of that — it moves an hour of it from the evening to the morning, which is why the same rule feels completely different in June and November.

One clock, 16 minutes of real difference

Columbus and Savannah read exactly the same time, but they are 3.9 degrees of longitude apart — about 16 minutes of real solar time. The sun sets that much later at the western end of Georgia than the eastern end, every single day, and no clock change affects it.

The clock changes at the state line

Georgia borders 2 states on a different clock right now: Alabama, Tennessee. Crossing any of those borders moves the time, which matters for anyone commuting, delivering or scheduling across the line — and for phones, which switch silently and without asking.

The Next Clock Changes in Georgia

The next move is backwards, which is the one people notice: an hour more sleep, and sunset arriving before most of the working day is over. US clocks change on the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in November. These are the next dates that rule produces for Georgia, computed from the current time zone rules rather than a fixed list — if the rules change, these dates change with them.

Why Georgia Keeps the Clock It Does

Georgia sits at the far western edge of Eastern Time, which is why the sun rises and sets noticeably later here than in the Carolinas on the same clock. The state legislature voted for permanent Daylight Saving Time in 2021 — one of nineteen states to do so — and is still waiting on Congress.

The practical consequence is that every time difference involving Georgia shifts by an hour on Sunday, November 1, 2026 — and with 2 neighbouring states already on a different clock, this is a state where knowing the date matters at the border as much as it does across the country.

To check an exact gap on an exact date, use the time zone converter, or the meeting planner for a whole group at once.

Crossing the State Line

These neighbouring states are on a different clock from Georgia today. A state border is the most common place to lose or gain an hour without expecting to.

Current Time in Georgia Cities