Perth Time Now

What this page shows

So you want to know what time it is in Perth right now. Maybe you have a call with someone in Western Australia, a flight to catch, a match kicking off on local time, or someone to reach before their evening is over. That is what the clock at the top of this page is for. It shows the current time in Perth and ticks forward every second, so there is nothing for you to work out by hand.

Wherever in the world you are reading this from, the clock tracks Perth and keeps itself right on its own. And Perth time is simple, because it never changes through the year, as the next section explains.

Perth does not change its clocks

Here is the part worth knowing about Perth time, and it makes things easy. Western Australia does not use daylight saving. There is no spring forward and no fall back, so Perth stays on the same clock all year round, Australian Western Standard Time, eight hours ahead of UTC.

This is a settled matter in Western Australia, which has held several public votes on daylight saving over the years, including a trial as recently as the late 2000s, and turned it down each time. So while the eastern states change their clocks for the summer, Perth does not. There are no change dates to track here. Whenever you look, Perth is at UTC plus 8, and the clock above simply shows that time.

What time zone Perth is in

Perth runs on Australian Western Standard Time, eight hours ahead of UTC, held every day of the year. The interesting thing about that offset is the company it keeps: UTC plus 8 is the same clock as Singapore, Hong Kong, and the whole of China. So although Perth is in Australia, its time lines up not with the rest of the country to the east but with much of East and Southeast Asia to the north.

That also makes Perth a fair way behind the Australian east coast. It sits two hours behind Sydney in winter, and three behind through the southern summer, when the eastern states put their clocks forward and Perth does not. For a city often called one of the most isolated big cities in the world, the clock rather suits it: closer in time to Asia than to its own east coast.

Time difference from Perth to other cities

Perth never changes its clocks, so the gap to other fixed-offset places stays the same all year. The places that do use daylight saving, like Sydney, London, and New York, shift by an hour against Perth when they change. Here is the quick reference, assuming it is 12 noon in Perth.

A few quick examples

Let us run a few, so you can see how this works.

Say it is 12 noon in Perth. Singapore reads the same, 12 noon, since it shares the offset, and Tokyo is an hour ahead at 1 in the afternoon. Sydney, on the far side of the country, is two hours ahead at 2 in the afternoon, or three hours ahead in the Sydney summer, when the east coast springs forward and Perth does not.

Now the hauls north and west. In its winter, London is eight hours behind Perth, so 12 noon here is 8 in the morning in London. New York, thirteen hours behind, is at 11 the previous evening. Midday in Perth catches the East Asian working day cleanly, but reaches Europe only in the early morning and the Americas overnight.

Because Sydney, London, and New York all use daylight saving and Perth does not, those gaps shift by an hour when the other places change. So for a call that has to land just right, check the live clock rather than the rule of thumb.

A couple of things about Perth time

Perth sits at about 32 degrees south, so the length of the day swings a moderate amount across the year, the opposite way round to the northern hemisphere. The longest days come around December, with roughly fourteen hours between sunrise and sunset, and the shortest around June, dropping to a little over ten.

On the clock-against-sun question, Perth runs a little ahead of the sun. Australian Western Standard Time is built on the 120 degree east line, and Perth sits some way west of it, so the sun reaches its highest a little after 12 noon by the clock, at around twenty past twelve in the middle of the year. With no daylight saving to shift it, that gentle lean holds steady all year.

Other places to compare

Perth keeps the western Australian clock, in step with much of Asia. Here are some to jump to:

• Singapore time now, on the same clock
• Sydney time now, two or three hours ahead
• Australia time now, the country as a whole

And if it is the global reference Perth is measured from that you are after, see UTC Time Now.

Questions people ask

What time is it in Perth right now?

The clock near the top of this page is the answer, and it updates every second. Western Australia does not use daylight saving, so Perth stays on the same time all year, and the time shown is always correct.

Does Perth change its clocks for daylight saving?

No. Western Australia has voted against daylight saving several times, so Perth keeps Australian Western Standard Time, UTC plus 8, all year with no seasonal change.

Is Perth the same time as Singapore?

Yes. Both are on UTC plus 8 and neither uses daylight saving, so Perth and Singapore always read the same clock, even though Perth is in Australia.

What time zone is Perth in?

Australian Western Standard Time, eight hours ahead of UTC, held all year. It is the same offset as Singapore, Hong Kong, and China.

What is the time difference between Perth and Sydney?

Sydney is two hours ahead of Perth in winter, and three hours ahead in the Sydney summer, since the eastern states use daylight saving and Western Australia does not.

What is the IANA name for Perth time?

It is Australia/Perth in the IANA time zone database, the time data your phone and your computer use. It holds a steady UTC plus 8, and it is what drives the live clock on this page.

References

1. Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). Time Zone Database (the tz database), home of the Australia/Perth identifier. https://www.iana.org/time-zones
2. National Measurement Institute (NMI), Australia, which keeps and disseminates Australia's legal time. https://www.industry.gov.au/national-measurement-institute/nmi-services/physical-measurement-services/time-and-frequency-services
3. Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM), Time Department, which maintains Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the reference Australian Western Standard Time is measured from. https://www.bipm.org/en/work-programme/time