Los Angeles is 12 hours behind Karachi for most of the year: when it is 10:00 am in Karachi it is 10:00 pm (previous day) in Los Angeles. In offset terms Karachi is on UTC+05:00 and Los Angeles is on UTC-08:00 in January, and UTC+05:00 and UTC-07:00 in July. The converter above works from your browser’s own time zone data, so the figure it shows is the one in force today rather than the one that was in force when this page was written.
The difference is not constant, because only one of the two cities observes daylight saving. In 2026, Karachi does not change at all and Los Angeles changes on 8 March and 1 November. That leaves 3 distinct periods in the year, and the table below gives the exact dates. It is the short windows that catch people out: a recurring call booked in one city’s clock silently moves in the other’s.
There is no overlap in office hours at all. Karachi works 09:00 to 17:00 and Los Angeles works 09:00 to 18:00, and with 12 hours between them one city has closed before the other opens. Anything live has to be early for one side or late for the other; 17:00 to 18:00 in Karachi, which is 05:00 to 06:00 in Los Angeles, is usually the least painful compromise. Both cities work Monday to Friday, so only the clock has to be reconciled.
Two local details worth knowing. Pakistan keeps UTC+05:00 all year, half an hour behind India, which is the usual source of confusion on regional calls. The working day starts late and runs late, so a 09:00 Pacific call is already lunchtime on the US east coast.
Write the invitation in both clocks. "10:00 Karachi / 22:00 Los Angeles" removes the ambiguity that abbreviations introduce — Karachi alone is read as PKT in winter and PKT in summer, and calendar software will happily convert one into the other without telling you.
The formula
local Karachi- The time you enter, on the Karachi clock
offset- Each city’s UTC offset at that moment, read live from the IANA time zone database in your browser
−12- The difference in hours that holds for most of 2026: Los Angeles is 12 hours behind Karachi
day shift- Whether the converted time falls on the previous, same or next calendar day in Los Angeles
How it works, step by step
- Enter a time in Karachi using the 24-hour hour box and the minute box — 15:30 is hour 15, minute 30.
- Your browser reports the UTC offset in force in Karachi and in Los Angeles for that moment, so a date near a daylight saving transition is handled correctly rather than with a fixed 12 hour rule.
- The second offset minus the first gives the difference, which is added to the time you entered. A result past midnight is marked as the next or previous day, because that is where most conversion mistakes live.
- The panel also shows the current time in both cities, the date in Los Angeles, and whether the two offices are open at the same moment.
Worked examples
09:00 in Karachi
09:00 in Karachi is 21:00 in Los Angeles (previous day) — after the Los Angeles working day has finished. In 12-hour terms, 9:00 am against 9:00 pm (previous day). Only one of the two offices is open at that moment, so it is worth offering rather than assuming.
12:00 in Karachi
12:00 in Karachi is 00:00 in Los Angeles — the middle of the night in Los Angeles. In 12-hour terms, 12:00 pm against 12:00 am. Only one of the two offices is open at that moment, so it is worth offering rather than assuming.
16:00 in Karachi
16:00 in Karachi is 04:00 in Los Angeles — the middle of the night in Los Angeles. In 12-hour terms, 4:00 pm against 4:00 am. Only one of the two offices is open at that moment, so it is worth offering rather than assuming.
The 1 January window, when the usual answer is wrong
Between 1 January and 7 March the difference is -13:00 rather than -12:00, because one city has changed its clocks and the other has not. In that window 10:00 in Karachi is 21:00 in Los Angeles (previous day), an hour away from where a fixed-offset table would put it.
How to read your score
Frequently asked questions
How many hours behind Karachi is Los Angeles?
Los Angeles is 12 hours behind Karachi for most of 2026, so 09:00 in Karachi is 21:00 in Los Angeles (previous day). The difference changes during the daylight saving changeovers, and the table on this page lists every period in the year with its exact dates.
What is 2 pm Karachi time in Los Angeles?
2:00 am, the middle of the night in Los Angeles. In 24-hour form 14:00 in Karachi is 02:00 in Los Angeles, and that is outside working hours in Los Angeles.
What is the best time to call between Karachi and Los Angeles?
There is no time when both offices are open, so one side has to step outside its normal hours. The two least disruptive options are 08:00 in Karachi, which is 20:00 in Los Angeles, or 17:00 in Karachi, which is 05:00 in Los Angeles.
Is Los Angeles ahead of or behind Karachi?
Los Angeles is behind. Karachi is at UTC+05:00 and Los Angeles is at UTC-08:00 in mid-January, and UTC+05:00 and UTC-07:00 in mid-July. The clock moves back going from Karachi to Los Angeles, which is why Karachi reaches the end of its working day first.
Do Karachi and Los Angeles change their clocks on the same date?
No. In 2026, Karachi does not change its clocks at all, and Los Angeles changes on 8 March 2026 and 1 November 2026. That is why the difference between them takes 2 different values across the year rather than one.
What do the abbreviations for Karachi mean?
Karachi is on PKT in winter and PKT in summer, while Los Angeles uses PST and PDT. Abbreviations are the least reliable way to write a time: several are ambiguous between regions, and the summer and winter forms are an hour apart. A UTC offset, or the time given in both cities, cannot be misread.
Does this converter stay correct after the clocks change?
Yes. It does not use a stored number for the difference. Each time you change a value it asks your browser for the UTC offset that Asia/Karachi and America/Los_Angeles are on at that moment, using the IANA time zone database that ships with your operating system, and takes the difference. The tables on this page are computed from the same database for 2026.
Karachi to Los Angeles: every hour, every period of 2026, and meeting slots
| Karachi (24h) | Karachi (12h) | Los Angeles (24h) | Los Angeles (12h) | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:00 | 12:00 am | 12:00 (previous day) | 12:00 pm (previous day) | office hours in Los Angeles |
| 01:00 | 1:00 am | 13:00 (previous day) | 1:00 pm (previous day) | office hours in Los Angeles |
| 02:00 | 2:00 am | 14:00 (previous day) | 2:00 pm (previous day) | office hours in Los Angeles |
| 03:00 | 3:00 am | 15:00 (previous day) | 3:00 pm (previous day) | office hours in Los Angeles |
| 04:00 | 4:00 am | 16:00 (previous day) | 4:00 pm (previous day) | office hours in Los Angeles |
| 05:00 | 5:00 am | 17:00 (previous day) | 5:00 pm (previous day) | office hours in Los Angeles |
| 06:00 | 6:00 am | 18:00 (previous day) | 6:00 pm (previous day) | outside office hours |
| 07:00 | 7:00 am | 19:00 (previous day) | 7:00 pm (previous day) | outside office hours |
| 08:00 | 8:00 am | 20:00 (previous day) | 8:00 pm (previous day) | outside office hours |
| 09:00 | 9:00 am | 21:00 (previous day) | 9:00 pm (previous day) | office hours in Karachi |
| 10:00 | 10:00 am | 22:00 (previous day) | 10:00 pm (previous day) | office hours in Karachi |
| 11:00 | 11:00 am | 23:00 (previous day) | 11:00 pm (previous day) | office hours in Karachi |
| 12:00 | 12:00 pm | 00:00 | 12:00 am | office hours in Karachi |
| 13:00 | 1:00 pm | 01:00 | 1:00 am | office hours in Karachi |
| 14:00 | 2:00 pm | 02:00 | 2:00 am | office hours in Karachi |
| 15:00 | 3:00 pm | 03:00 | 3:00 am | office hours in Karachi |
| 16:00 | 4:00 pm | 04:00 | 4:00 am | office hours in Karachi |
| 17:00 | 5:00 pm | 05:00 | 5:00 am | outside office hours |
| 18:00 | 6:00 pm | 06:00 | 6:00 am | outside office hours |
| 19:00 | 7:00 pm | 07:00 | 7:00 am | outside office hours |
| 20:00 | 8:00 pm | 08:00 | 8:00 am | outside office hours |
| 21:00 | 9:00 pm | 09:00 | 9:00 am | office hours in Los Angeles |
| 22:00 | 10:00 pm | 10:00 | 10:00 am | office hours in Los Angeles |
| 23:00 | 11:00 pm | 11:00 | 11:00 am | office hours in Los Angeles |
Computed at a difference of -12 hours, which is the one that holds for most of 2026. During the transition windows in the table below, shift the right-hand columns by an hour.
| Period | Length | Karachi offset | Los Angeles offset | Difference | Abbreviations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 Jan to 07 Mar | 66 days | UTC+05:00 | UTC-08:00 | -13:00 | PKT / PST |
| 08 Mar to 31 Oct | 238 days | UTC+05:00 | UTC-07:00 | -12:00 | PKT / PDT |
| 01 Nov to 31 Dec | 61 days | UTC+05:00 | UTC-08:00 | -13:00 | PKT / PST |
Every row is read from the IANA time zone database. Short periods appear where one city has changed its clocks and the other has not yet done so.
| Karachi | 12-hour | Los Angeles | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| 06:00 | 6:00 am | 18:00 (previous day) | Outside both |
| 06:30 | 6:30 am | 18:30 (previous day) | Outside both |
| 07:00 | 7:00 am | 19:00 (previous day) | Outside both |
| 07:30 | 7:30 am | 19:30 (previous day) | Outside both |
| 08:00 | 8:00 am | 20:00 (previous day) | Outside both |
| 08:30 | 8:30 am | 20:30 (previous day) | Outside both |
| 09:00 | 9:00 am | 21:00 (previous day) | After hours in Los Angeles |
| 09:30 | 9:30 am | 21:30 (previous day) | After hours in Los Angeles |
| 10:00 | 10:00 am | 22:00 (previous day) | After hours in Los Angeles |
| 10:30 | 10:30 am | 22:30 (previous day) | After hours in Los Angeles |
| 11:00 | 11:00 am | 23:00 (previous day) | After hours in Los Angeles |
| 11:30 | 11:30 am | 23:30 (previous day) | After hours in Los Angeles |
| 12:00 | 12:00 pm | 00:00 | Too early in Los Angeles |
| 12:30 | 12:30 pm | 00:30 | Too early in Los Angeles |
| 13:00 | 1:00 pm | 01:00 | Too early in Los Angeles |
| 13:30 | 1:30 pm | 01:30 | Too early in Los Angeles |
| 14:00 | 2:00 pm | 02:00 | Too early in Los Angeles |
| 14:30 | 2:30 pm | 02:30 | Too early in Los Angeles |
| 15:00 | 3:00 pm | 03:00 | Too early in Los Angeles |
| 15:30 | 3:30 pm | 03:30 | Too early in Los Angeles |
| 16:00 | 4:00 pm | 04:00 | Too early in Los Angeles |
| 16:30 | 4:30 pm | 04:30 | Too early in Los Angeles |
| 17:00 | 5:00 pm | 05:00 | Outside both |
| 17:30 | 5:30 pm | 05:30 | Outside both |
| 18:00 | 6:00 pm | 06:00 | Outside both |
| 18:30 | 6:30 pm | 06:30 | Outside both |
| 19:00 | 7:00 pm | 07:00 | Outside both |
| 19:30 | 7:30 pm | 07:30 | Outside both |
| 20:00 | 8:00 pm | 08:00 | Outside both |
| 20:30 | 8:30 pm | 08:30 | Outside both |
| 21:00 | 9:00 pm | 09:00 | After hours in Karachi |
| 21:30 | 9:30 pm | 09:30 | After hours in Karachi |
Office hours taken as 09:00–17:00 in Karachi and 09:00–18:00 in Los Angeles, which are the customary hours in each city rather than a generic nine to five.