Airport in Rhode Island
Rhode Island T. F. Green International Airport (PVD / KPVD) is a major international airport serving Rhode Island directly.
Current local time at the airport is 18:57:23.
Daylight saving time changes in Rhode Island, United States
Rhode Island uses the IANA time zone identifier America/New_York. The current local offset is UTC-4 / EDT.
Next change: November 1, 2026
Clock moves back from 02:00 to 01:00 local time.
Best Time to Call Rhode Island
Business hours in Rhode Island (9 AM-5 PM local time) fall at these local times elsewhere:
- Sao Paulo: 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM ( Convenient)
- Frankfurt: 3:00 PM - 11:00 PM ( Partial overlap)
- Johannesburg: 3:00 PM - 11:00 PM ( Partial overlap)
- Singapore: 9:00 PM - 5:00 AM (next day) ( Partial overlap)
- Hong Kong: 9:00 PM - 5:00 AM (next day) ( Partial overlap)
- Istanbul: 4:00 PM - 12:00 AM (next day) ( Partial overlap)
- Auckland: 2:00 AM (next day) - 10:00 AM (next day) ( Outside normal hours)
Times shown reflect current UTC offsets and may shift by up to an hour around daylight saving transitions.
Time Difference from Rhode Island
Compare time in Rhode Island with major cities worldwide.
Current Time in Cities of Rhode Island, United States
About Time in Rhode Island
A Piece of the Longitude Problem, Hiding in Newport
Tucked away in the collections of the Newport Historical Society sits one of the rarest kinds of timepiece in the world, a marine chronometer built around 1772 by John Arnold of London, one of the key competitors in Britain's Board of Longitude race to solve the single hardest navigation problem of the 18th century: figuring out a ship's exact longitude at sea using nothing but precise timekeeping.
When Newport Historical Society staff member Ingrid Peters traveled to the Royal Observatory at Greenwich to have the piece examined, curator of horology Rory McEvoy confirmed it was the genuine article, the fourth in a series of marine watches Arnold produced around 1772 while competing against the far more famous John Harrison for the Board of Longitude's prize. Arnold's design used a pivoted detent escapement, a real technical advance at the time, refined while one of his other timekeepers was away undergoing sea trials.
The watch made its way to Rhode Island through Peleg Clarke, a wealthy Newport merchant descended from one of the city's earliest English settlers, who most likely purchased it directly from Arnold while on a trip to London in 1792. Clarke also happened to be an eyewitness to the Boston Tea Party, meaning this single pocket sized instrument connects Newport directly to two entirely separate threads of 18th century history, the scientific race to conquer navigation through precise time, and the political upheaval that led to American independence.
An Hour From Anchorage, and a Bill With Five Signatures Required
Rhode Island lawmakers have pushed the Atlantic time zone idea from an unusually vivid angle. State Representative Blake Filippi of Block Island once summed up the frustration of early winter darkness by pointing out that Rhode Island's December sunset, around 4:17 p.m., comes only 27 minutes later than sunset in Anchorage, Alaska, a genuinely striking comparison for a state thousands of miles south of the Arctic. His 2016 bill proposed shifting Rhode Island permanently into Atlantic Standard Time, contingent on Massachusetts making the same move first.
Nearly a decade later, Rhode Island flipped direction entirely. A 2026 bill, S2179, proposed the opposite outcome, repealing Daylight Saving Time altogether and keeping the state on permanent Eastern Standard Time instead, but only if Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont could all agree on the same effective date together, a five state coordination requirement far stricter than the simple two state conditions most other states attach to similar bills. The proposal reflects a pattern across New England generally, all five of these states have formed commissions or introduced legislation examining permanent time in some form, yet none has been willing to make the first move entirely alone.
Frequently Asked Questions
What time zone is Rhode Island in?
The whole of Rhode Island uses the America/New_York time zone (EDT). Local time is 4 hours behind UTC (UTC-4), and all cities in the region show the same time.
Is the time in Rhode Island the same as in Washington?
Yes. Providence and most of Rhode Island keep the same time as Washington, the capital of United States, so no conversion is needed for calls or meetings between them.
Do clocks change in Rhode Island?
Yes. The next clock change in Rhode Island is on November 1, 2026, when clocks move back from 02:00 to 01:00 local time.
What is the main city of Rhode Island?
Providence is the main city of Rhode Island, with a population of about 190,934. The time, sunrise and sunset shown on this page are based on Providence.
Which airport is closest to Providence?
Rhode Island T. F. Green International Airport (PVD) serves Providence directly. Flight arrival and departure times there are shown in local time.
Beyond the Clock
Why the Moon’s Phases Don’t Actually Change Its Size
A thin crescent looks small enough to disappear. A full moon looks like it's swelling on the horizon. Neither impression is true. The Moon's diameter is 3,474 kilometers on every night of the month, whether it's a sliver or a full disc, and nothing in
Why Saturn’s Rings Are Disappearing From View in 2025 and 2026
Saturn's rings turned edge-on to Earth on March 23, 2025, at 12:04 p.m. EDT, and for weeks the planet looked like a plain yellow ball through backyard telescopes. This is not decay or destruction. It is a geometric alignment called a ring plane crossing, and
What Is a Harvest Moon and Why It Rises at Almost the Same Time Several Nights Running
On most nights of the year, the Moon rises roughly 50 minutes later than it did the night before. Around the Harvest Moon, that gap collapses to as little as 10 minutes in parts of the UK and Canada, and rarely more than 30 minutes
What Is a Blood Moon and Why Does the Moon Turn Red
On the night of August 27, 2026, the Moon came within a hair of disappearing entirely. Earth's shadow covered 96.2% of its surface, a partial eclipse so deep that skywatchers across the Americas, Europe, and Africa watched it turn a rusty, almost total red without
Friday the 13th: How Often It Happens and Why It Falls on a Friday Most Often
November 13, 2026 is the third Friday the 13th of the year, after February 13 and March 13. That won't happen again until 2037. The next one after November comes on August 13, 2027, and then the calendar produces the longest possible drought: 14 months
When Is Eid al-Fitr and How Its Date Depends on Ramadan’s Final Moon Sighting
Eid al-Fitr never sits on a fixed date, and it isn't confirmed until the night before it happens. Unlike Christmas or New Year's Day, locked to the Gregorian calendar months in advance, the first day of Shawwal depends on whether a sliver of crescent moon
What Is Nowruz and Why It Always Falls on the Spring Equinox
Nowruz is the Persian New Year, celebrated by more than 300 million people across Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Kurdish communities, and it begins at the exact astronomical instant of the March equinox rather than on a fixed date on any calendar grid.
Why Hanukkah’s Date Moves Every Year on the Solar Calendar
In 2013, the first candle of Hanukkah was lit on the night before Thanksgiving, a coincidence rare enough that it won't happen again until 2070. Eleven years later, in 2024, the first candle fell on the evening of December 25 itself, the same alignment that
Time Tools
Quick access to timers, stopwatch, world clock and time zone tools.
Time Guides
Read useful guides about time zones, calendars, finance and astronomy.
