Current Time in Santa Monica
How to Check Current Time in Santa Monica, United States
Open the Santa Monica page: Go to https://www.xconvert.com/time-converter/united-states/santa-monica to load Santa Monica pre-selected on the comparison grid in the America/Los_Angeles time zone. This is useful if you are planning a call with a Los Angeles-area client, confirming a West Coast interview slot, or checking whether a Santa Monica-based media, tech, or ecommerce team is still within business hours.
Add comparison cities: Click + Add City and search for cities such as New York, London, and Tokyo to compare Santa Monica with major finance, media, and product-development hubs. This is especially practical for remote teams that work across US coasts, for UK agencies coordinating with California brands, or for APAC partners trying to find overlap with Pacific Time working hours.
Select a time range on the grid: Click Select if needed, then drag across the Santa Monica row from 9 AM to 11 AM to highlight a purple range, and adjust it with the left or right handles if you want a narrower meeting window. On a standard winter day, that same range maps to 12 PM to 2 PM in New York, 5 PM to 7 PM in London, and 2 AM to 4 AM the next day in Tokyo, which quickly shows why a Santa Monica morning works well for the US East Coast and late UK afternoon but not for East Asia.
Export and share the result: After selecting the range, use the export options shown on the page: ICS download, Google Calendar, Gmail, Copy to clipboard, or Share link. This is helpful when sending a confirmed meeting slot to a distributed team, creating a calendar hold for a client presentation, or sharing a visual time overlap with coworkers so everyone sees the event in their own local time automatically.
About Santa Monica Time Zone
Santa Monica uses the IANA time zone name America/Los_Angeles, the same zone used by Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and much of the US West Coast. This time zone is part of the Pacific Time Zone in the United States, which means Santa Monica follows Pacific Standard Time (PST), UTC-8 during standard time and Pacific Daylight Time (PDT), UTC-7 during daylight saving time.
Daylight saving time in Santa Monica starts on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November, following US federal DST rules. For 2025, clocks move forward on March 9, 2025, and move back on November 2, 2025; between those dates, Santa Monica is on UTC-7, and outside them, it returns to UTC-8. This matters for scheduling because Santa Monica’s difference from London, New York, Dubai, and Sydney changes seasonally when those places switch DST on different dates or do not use DST at all.
Geographically, Santa Monica is in Southern California, in Los Angeles County, on the Pacific coast just west of downtown Los Angeles. It shares the same clock as nearby business and travel centers such as Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Pasadena, Burbank, Orange County, and San Diego, while being 1 hour behind Denver, 2 hours behind Chicago, and 3 hours behind New York during normal US time alignment. This makes Santa Monica a common reference point for entertainment, advertising, startup, tourism, and ecommerce operations that coordinate across North America.
Santa Monica City Details
Santa Monica is a coastal city in California, United States, with a population of 93,220. It sits at coordinates 34.01949° N, -118.49138° W, placing it directly on the Pacific shoreline west of central Los Angeles and close to major regional transport links such as Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), which is important for business travel and international arrivals.
The local currency is the United States Dollar (USD), which is used for all everyday transactions, hotel bookings, dining, transportation, and retail purchases in Santa Monica. The country dialing code is +1, so international callers dialing Santa Monica numbers use the US country code before the local number, which is relevant for travelers, customer support teams, and companies placing calls into California.
Santa Monica’s location gives it strong ties to industries that operate on Pacific Time, including technology, digital media, gaming, ecommerce, wellness, tourism, and entertainment-adjacent services. Because it is part of the broader Los Angeles metro economy, meeting times in Santa Monica are often chosen with awareness of East Coast office hours, London agency schedules, and Asia-Pacific production or engineering teams.
Time Differences from Santa Monica
Santa Monica’s time difference depends on whether daylight saving time is active in California and whether the comparison city also changes clocks. In general, Santa Monica is 3 hours behind New York, 8 hours behind London during much of the US winter, 9 hours behind London during much of the US summer, 17 hours behind Tokyo in standard time / 16 hours behind during US daylight time, 19 hours behind Sydney in standard time / 17 hours behind during northern summer when Sydney is on standard time, and 11 hours behind Dubai during US standard time / 10 hours behind during US daylight time.
Here are practical examples using 9:00 AM in Santa Monica:
- New York: Santa Monica is usually 3 hours behind New York, so 9:00 AM in Santa Monica = 12:00 PM noon in New York. This is one of the easiest same-day overlaps for US teams, making late morning or early afternoon Eastern Time a common meeting window.
- London: Santa Monica is typically 8 or 9 hours behind London depending on the season, so 9:00 AM in Santa Monica = 5:00 PM or 6:00 PM in London. That makes Santa Monica mornings workable for UK-based agencies, legal teams, and cross-Atlantic client reviews, but late California afternoons are usually too late for London.
- Tokyo: Santa Monica is generally 16 or 17 hours behind Tokyo, so 9:00 AM in Santa Monica = 1:00 AM or 2:00 AM the next day in Tokyo. For US-Japan coordination, Santa Monica late afternoon often aligns better with Tokyo morning than Santa Monica morning does.
- Sydney: Santa Monica is usually 17, 18, or 19 hours behind Sydney depending on both regions’ DST status, and a common reference is 9:00 AM in Santa Monica = 2:00 AM or 3:00 AM the next day in Sydney. Because Australia’s seasons are opposite those in the US, the exact gap shifts across the year, so checking a specific date on the grid is important before booking calls.
- Dubai: Santa Monica is typically 10 or 11 hours behind Dubai because Dubai stays on UTC+4 year-round and does not observe daylight saving time. That means 9:00 AM in Santa Monica = 7:00 PM or 8:00 PM in Dubai, which can work for same-day business calls between California and the Gulf region.
For practical scheduling, the best overlap from Santa Monica is usually with New York in the late morning, London in the morning, and Dubai in the early morning to late morning Santa Monica time. Tokyo and Sydney usually require either an early Santa Monica morning or a late Santa Monica evening if both sides want standard business-hour participation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What time zone is Santa Monica in?
Santa Monica is in the Pacific Time Zone and uses the IANA time zone America/Los_Angeles. That means it follows the same local time as Los Angeles and most major cities on the US West Coast, including standard time at UTC-8 and daylight time at UTC-7.
Does Santa Monica observe daylight saving time?
Yes, Santa Monica observes daylight saving time under the same rules used across most of the United States. Clocks move forward on the second Sunday in March and move back on the first Sunday in November; for 2025, those dates are March 9 and November 2. During DST, Santa Monica changes from UTC-8 to UTC-7, which affects meeting times with cities that do not change clocks, such as Dubai.
Time difference between Santa Monica and New York?
Santa Monica is usually 3 hours behind New York because New York is in the Eastern Time Zone while Santa Monica is in Pacific Time. When it is 9:00 AM in Santa Monica, it is typically 12:00 PM in New York, which makes California mornings a practical time for coast-to-coast meetings, sales calls, and live project check-ins.
Best time to call Santa Monica from the US or UK?
From the US East Coast, a good time to call Santa Monica is usually 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM Eastern, which corresponds to 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM in Santa Monica. From the UK, the best window is often 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM UK time, which lines up with 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM or 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM in Santa Monica, depending on seasonal DST differences between the US and the UK. This overlap is commonly used for agency calls, film distribution discussions, and international client meetings.
What is the UTC offset for Santa Monica?
Santa Monica’s UTC offset is UTC-8 during Pacific Standard Time (PST) and UTC-7 during Pacific Daylight Time (PDT). The exact offset depends on the date, so if you are scheduling travel, webinars, or cross-border support coverage, it is important to check whether the selected day falls before or after the March and November clock changes.
What currency does Santa Monica use?
Santa Monica uses the United States Dollar (USD) because it is located in the United States. If you are budgeting for travel, hotel stays, dining, rideshare trips, or local business expenses, all prices and payments will be in USD, and international cardholders may also need to account for exchange rates and foreign transaction fees.
Is Santa Monica the same time as Los Angeles?
Yes, Santa Monica is on exactly the same local time as Los Angeles because both use the America/Los_Angeles time zone. There is no time difference between the two cities, which is useful for travelers staying on the coast, production crews moving between neighborhoods, or businesses serving clients across the Los Angeles metro area.
How far behind London is Santa Monica?
Santa Monica is generally 8 or 9 hours behind London, depending on the date and whether the US and UK are both on daylight saving time. For example, 9:00 AM in Santa Monica is usually 5:00 PM or 6:00 PM in London, so Santa Monica mornings are often the best period for same-day UK-US West Coast calls.