Time in American Samoa — regions, cities and time zones

Current time in Pago Pago

American Samoa uses Samoa Standard Time, UTC-11, throughout the year. Pago Pago, the territorial capital, keeps this offset, as do all the islands of the territory. There is no daylight saving time.

Nearly the last place on Earth to see a given date

At UTC-11, American Samoa has one of the latest clocks in the world. When the calendar turns over somewhere near the International Date Line, American Samoa is among the final inhabited places to arrive at the new day.

This produces one of the strangest neighbouring-country situations anywhere. Independent Samoa lies close by to the west, but sits on the other side of the Date Line, on a clock a full day ahead. The two Samoas are a short flight apart and their calendars disagree about what day it is.

Two islands, one ocean, and a whole day of disagreement about the date — geography's most efficient argument.

Islands of the territory

American Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the United States in the South Pacific, in the Oceania region. It is made up of several islands, all sharing the same clock: Tutuila — the main island, home to Pago Pago and most of the population

Aunuu — a small island just off Tutuila's eastern end Ofu, Olosega and Tau — the Manua Islands, to the east Swains Island and Rose Atoll — remote outliers No island in the territory differs from any other in time. Distances here are measured in boat and plane hours, not clock offsets.

Daylight saving and the mainland gap

American Samoa does not observe daylight saving time. Several other United States territories take the same approach, so the offset from UTC stays fixed while much of the mainland shifts. The consequence is that the gap between American Samoa and mainland US cities changes twice a year, entirely because of mainland clock changes. Anyone coordinating with Washington, New York or Los Angeles should expect the difference to widen or narrow in spring and autumn without anything happening locally at all.

Working with a UTC-11 clock

Check the date, not just the hour — at this offset the calendar day frequently differs from the caller's. Do not confuse American Samoa with independent Samoa; the two are roughly a day apart. Expect the gap to US mainland cities to move seasonally, driven by their daylight saving, not yours. Let a proper time zone database handle conversions rather than counting hours by hand.