Time Difference Between San Francisco and Shanghai
San Francisco is normally 16 hours behind Shanghai.
This page shows the live time difference between San Francisco, United States and Shanghai, China. San Francisco uses the America/Los_Angeles time zone (UTC-8 standard) and Shanghai uses Asia/Shanghai (UTC+8 standard), so San Francisco is normally 16 hours behind Shanghai. Because San Francisco observes daylight saving time, the exact gap can shift by an hour during the year. The clocks above update live, so you always see the current difference, which is handy for scheduling calls, meetings and travel between the two cities.
San Francisco
- Country
- United States
- Time zone
- America/Los_Angeles
- Standard offset
- UTC-8
- Daylight saving
- Observed
- Current offset
- …
Shanghai
- Country
- China
- Time zone
- Asia/Shanghai
- Standard offset
- UTC+8
- Daylight saving
- Not observed
- Current offset
- …
Best time to schedule a meeting
San Francisco and Shanghai have no overlapping working hours: when one city is in its 9 to 5, the other is outside it. To talk live, one side needs to take the call early or late, so asynchronous updates usually work better for this pair.
- Overlap
- None during standard working hours
Based on a 9:00 to 17:00 working day in each city. The window above updates live, so it already accounts for daylight saving in either city.
Related time differences
- Amsterdam vs San Francisco
- Amsterdam vs Shanghai
- Auckland vs San Francisco
- Auckland vs Shanghai
- Bangkok vs San Francisco
- Bangkok vs Shanghai
- Beijing vs San Francisco
- Beijing vs Shanghai
- Berlin vs San Francisco
- Berlin vs Shanghai
Compare any other two places on the time difference hub, or open the interactive world time zone map to pin cities and compare live.
Frequently asked questions
What is the time difference between San Francisco and Shanghai?
San Francisco is normally 16 hours behind Shanghai (San Francisco is UTC-8, Shanghai is UTC+8). Daylight saving time can change this by an hour, so the live clocks above always show the current difference.
Is San Francisco ahead of or behind Shanghai?
San Francisco is behind Shanghai by 16 hours under standard time.
Do San Francisco and Shanghai use daylight saving time?
San Francisco observes daylight saving time; Shanghai does not.
What is the best time to schedule a meeting between San Francisco and Shanghai?
There is no overlap between a standard 9 to 5 working day in San Francisco and in Shanghai, so a live call means one side joining outside normal hours.