What is the time difference between San Francisco and Sydney?

Sydney is 17 hours ahead of San Francisco. That figure is current — it changes by an hour when either city starts or ends daylight saving, and the exact dates are listed above.

When is the best time to call Sydney from San Francisco?

Between 17:00–18:00 in San Francisco, which is 10:00–11:00 in Sydney. That is the only stretch where both cities are inside a 09:00–18:00 day.

Does San Francisco observe daylight saving time?

Yes. San Francisco runs on UTC-8 in winter and UTC-7 in summer. The next change is on 2026-11-01, when clocks go back by 60 minutes.

Does Sydney observe daylight saving time?

Yes. Sydney runs on UTC+10 in winter and UTC+11 in summer. The next change is on 2026-10-04, when clocks go forward by 60 minutes.

If it is midday in San Francisco, what time is it in Sydney?

It is 05:00 in Sydney, and already the following day. That holds for the current offsets; it shifts by an hour around the daylight saving dates listed above.

Which time zones do San Francisco and Sydney use?

San Francisco uses America/Los_Angeles, currently UTC-7 (PDT), and Sydney uses Australia/Sydney, currently UTC+10 (AEST). Those identifiers are the ones to use in code — abbreviations are ambiguous and offsets change.

Convert San Francisco time to Sydney time

Right now Sydney runs 17 hours ahead of San Francisco. That gap is not fixed: it moves when either city changes its clocks.

Convert a time

From

Date

Time

Converted time

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The converter needs JavaScript to run. Everything below — offsets, daylight saving dates and the hour-by-hour table — is part of the page and works without it.

Hour by hour

The whole day mapped across: read down the left for San Francisco, across for Sydney.

San Francisco	Sydney
00:00	17:00
01:00	18:00
02:00	19:00
03:00	20:00
04:00	21:00
05:00	22:00
06:00	23:00
07:00	00:00next day
08:00	01:00next day
09:00	02:00next day
10:00	03:00next day
11:00	04:00next day
12:00	05:00next day
13:00	06:00next day
14:00	07:00next day
15:00	08:00next day
16:00	09:00next day
17:00	10:00next day
18:00	11:00next day
19:00	12:00next day
20:00	13:00next day
21:00	14:00next day
22:00	15:00next day
23:00	16:00next day

Daylight saving time

Both cities change their clocks, but not necessarily on the same date — which is why the difference between them shifts for a few weeks each year.

San Francisco

Observes daylight saving time

Standard: UTC-8
Daylight: UTC-7
Next change: 2026-11-01 −60m

Sydney

Observes daylight saving time

Standard: UTC+10
Daylight: UTC+11
Next change: 2026-10-04 +60m

When you can actually talk

The window is 1 hour wide — 17:00–18:00 in San Francisco, 10:00–11:00 in Sydney.

San Francisco 17:00–18:00Sydney 10:00–11:00
San Francisco 16:00–17:00Sydney 09:00–10:00

Reference

The zone identifiers and offsets behind everything above.

	San Francisco	Sydney
IANA zone	America/Los_Angeles	Australia/Sydney
Abbreviation	PDT	AEST
Standard offset	UTC-8	UTC+10
Daylight offset	UTC-7	UTC+11
Clock changes this year	2	2
Country	United States	Australia

Example, not the current time. Live times appear once the page loads.

Common questions

What is the time difference between San Francisco and Sydney?: Sydney is 17 hours ahead of San Francisco. That figure is current — it changes by an hour when either city starts or ends daylight saving, and the exact dates are listed above.
When is the best time to call Sydney from San Francisco?: Between 17:00–18:00 in San Francisco, which is 10:00–11:00 in Sydney. That is the only stretch where both cities are inside a 09:00–18:00 day.
Does San Francisco observe daylight saving time?: Yes. San Francisco runs on UTC-8 in winter and UTC-7 in summer. The next change is on 2026-11-01, when clocks go back by 60 minutes.
Does Sydney observe daylight saving time?: Yes. Sydney runs on UTC+10 in winter and UTC+11 in summer. The next change is on 2026-10-04, when clocks go forward by 60 minutes.
If it is midday in San Francisco, what time is it in Sydney?: It is 05:00 in Sydney, and already the following day. That holds for the current offsets; it shifts by an hour around the daylight saving dates listed above.
Which time zones do San Francisco and Sydney use?: San Francisco uses America/Los_Angeles, currently UTC-7 (PDT), and Sydney uses Australia/Sydney, currently UTC+10 (AEST). Those identifiers are the ones to use in code — abbreviations are ambiguous and offsets change.