Current time in Charleston, United States
The current local time in Charleston is shown below. Charleston observes EST in winter and EDT during daylight saving time.
What's the daylight saving status?
When are sunrise & sunset today?
What are the timezone facts?
What's the timezone history of Charleston?
Charleston uses Eastern Time and observes federal DST alongside the rest of South Carolina. The state's position south-east of the major US population centres places it firmly within Eastern Time, with no proximity-driven timezone considerations. The Georgia border around 130 kilometres south produces no time change. The federal DST schedule applies, with the standard March-to-November rule. Charleston's tropical-leaning latitude produces less seasonal day-length variation than further north on the Atlantic seaboard.
What are the working hours in Charleston?
Charleston's working economy combines the substantial tourism sector (around 7.4 million annual visitors drawn to the historic district and beaches), the Boeing Charleston manufacturing complex that produces the 787 Dreamliner's fuselage and aft sections, the Joint Base Charleston military presence, and a growing technology sector. Office hours run 08:30 to 17:00 in conventional sectors. The annual Spoleto Festival USA in late May and June and the Cooper River Bridge Run in April are the major cultural and athletic events. Hurricane season from June through November shapes the local emergency calendar.
Where is Charleston?
Charleston sits on a peninsula between the Ashley and Cooper rivers where they enter Charleston Harbor on the South Carolina Atlantic coast. The metropolitan area holds around 850,000 residents, the third-largest in South Carolina after Greenville-Spartanburg and Columbia. The geography is flat sea-level coastal plain, with the historic peninsula city centre prone to tidal flooding that has become more frequent through the 2010s and 2020s. Fort Sumter, on a small artificial island in the harbour, was the site of the opening shots of the American Civil War on 12 April 1861.