What is the time zone of Iowa?
The state of Iowa is in the Central Time zone. All counties and cities of the state have the same time zone, there are no exceptions. Iowa is observing daylight savings so there are two different clocks depending on the time of the year.
Central Standard Time (CST): – 6:00 UTC/GMT (behind)
Central Daylight Time (CDT): – 5:00 UTC/GMT (behind)
| Central Time |
All neighbouring states have the same time zone. So, the clocks are unchanged regardless if you cross the border with Michigan, South Dakota, Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois or Wisconsin.
Daylight savings time (DST)
Iowa is using daylight savings as also documented in the Uniform Time Act of 1966. During daylight savings the time changes from Central Standard time (CST) to Central Daylight time (CDT).
It starts on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. In March the clock is moved forward from 02.00 am to 03.00 am (so you will lose an hour of sleep during the night). While in November it’s reversed as the clock is moved backward from 03.00 am to 02.00 am and you will gain an extra hour of sleep. One way of remembering the movement sequence is that clocks “spring forward and fall back”.
The total period of daylight savings lasts for 34 weeks which is about 65% of the year.
Iowa time news, bills and legislation
There is a continuous debate about which time should be applied. Several bills have been introduced to legalize daylight saving time as the year-round clock, whereas others try to align the time with bordering counties or states. The table below gives an overview of the latest bills in the state of Iowa.
| Date | Bill | Status/Action | Title/summary |
| 1 Apr 2021 | SF335 | To Senate State Government Committee | A bill for an act establishing daylight saving time as the official time in this state throughout the year and including effective date provisions.(Formerly SF 8.) |
| 11 Feb 2021 | SF8 | Committee report approving bill, renumbered as SF 335. S.J. 337. | A bill for an act establishing daylight saving time as the official time in this state throughout the year.(See SF 335.) |
| 26 Feb 2020 | HF2560 | Introduced, placed on calendar. H.J. 372. | A bill for an act establishing daylight saving time as the official time in this state throughout the year and including effective date provisions. (Formerly HF 2059.) |
| 19 Feb 2020 | HF2059 | Committee report, recommending passage. H.J. 312. | A bill for an act establishing daylight saving time as the official time in this state throughout the year. |
| 18 Feb 2020 | SF2077 | Committee report approving bill, renumbered as SF 2282. S.J. 342. | A bill for an act establishing daylight saving time as the official time in this state throughout the year. |
| 18 Feb 2020 | SF2282 | Committee report, approving bill. S.J. 342. | A bill for an act establishing daylight saving time as the official time in this state throughout the year. |
| 21 Jan 2020 | SF2020 | To Senate State Government Committee | A bill for an act establishing central standard time as standard time in this state throughout the year. |
| 31 Jan 2019 | HF71 | To House State Government Committee | A bill for an act establishing daylight saving time as the official time in this state throughout the year. |
Other US states
You can check out information and maps of other US states by clicking on the below links.
| Alaskan Time | Pacific Time | Mountain Time | Central Time | Eastern Time |
| Alaska (AK) * | California (CA) | Arizona (AZ) | Alabama (AL) | Connecticut (CT) |
| Idaho (ID) * | Colorado (CO) | Arkansas (AR) | Delaware (DE) | |
| Hawaiian Time | Nevada (NV) | Idaho (ID) * | Florida (FL) * | Florida (FL) * |
| Hawaii (HI) | Oregon (OR) * | Kansas (KS) * | Illinois (IL) | Georgia (GA) |
| Alaska (AK) * | Washington (WA) | Montana (MT) | Indiana (IN) * | Indiana (IN) * |
| Nebraska (NE) * | Iowa (IA) | Kentucky (KY) * | ||
| New Mexico (NM) | Kansas (KS) * | Maine (ME) | ||
| North Dakota (ND) * | Kentucky (KY) * | Maryland (MD) | ||
| Oregon (OR) * | Louisiana (LA) | Massachusetts (MA) | ||
| South Dakota (SD) * | Michigan (MI) * | Michigan (MI) * | ||
| Texas (TX) * | Minnesota (MN) | New Hampshire (NH) | ||
| Utah (UT) | Mississippi (MS) | New Jersey (NJ) | ||
| Wyoming (WY) | Missouri (MO) | New York (NY) | ||
| Nebraska (NE) * | North Carolina (NC) | |||
| North Dakota (ND) * | Ohio (OH) | |||
| Oklahoma (OK) | Pennsylvania (PA) | |||
| South Dakota (SD) * | Rhode Island (RI) | |||
| Tennessee (TN) * | South Carolina (SC) | |||
| Texas (TX) * | Tennessee (TN) * | |||
| Wisconsin (WI) | Vermont (VT) | |||
| Virginia (VA) | ||||
| West Virginia (WV) | ||||
| * = multiple time zones |
