Current time in Phoenix, United States
The current local time in Phoenix is shown below. Phoenix observes MST.
Daylight saving time
Phoenix does not observe daylight saving time. The local offset is fixed year-round.
Sunrise & sunset today
Timezone facts
- Timezone
- America/Phoenix
- Standard abbreviation
- MST
- Observes daylight saving
- No
- Country
- 🇺🇸 United States
- Business hours
- 09:00 – 17:00 local
Phoenix in context
Phoenix sits in the Salt River Valley of central Arizona, the fifth-largest US city by population with around 1.65 million residents in the municipality and a wider Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler metropolitan area of 5 million. The geography of the Sonoran Desert produces extreme summer heat, with daytime highs routinely exceeding 40°C from June through September, and the urban form has expanded outward across the flat valley floor through extensive low-density suburbs.
Timezone history of Phoenix
Arizona is one of only two US states (with Hawaii) that does not observe daylight saving time. Phoenix therefore remains on Mountain Standard Time year-round at UTC-7, identical to Denver in winter but identical to Los Angeles on Pacific Daylight Time in summer. The state's exemption dates to a 1968 decision driven by the extreme summer heat: extending evening daylight was seen as undesirable when residents already wanted the cooler darkness as early as possible.
Working hours in Phoenix
Phoenix's working day starts unusually early to escape the afternoon heat, with 07:00 to 16:00 a common shift across both office and outdoor sectors during the summer months. Construction, landscaping, and many maintenance trades begin well before dawn from May through September. The city's substantial retiree population (concentrated in adjacent Sun City and Scottsdale) produces large midweek consumer activity outside conventional working hours.