{"id":1240,"date":"2009-04-24T18:21:26","date_gmt":"2009-04-24T23:21:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/?p=1240"},"modified":"2021-05-19T09:48:09","modified_gmt":"2021-05-19T14:48:09","slug":"states-split-time-zone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/states-split-time-zone\/","title":{"rendered":"13 (No, 14!) of the United States are Split by Time Zones"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I keep getting hits on my website looking for the list of &#8220;13 states split by time zones.&#8221; There must be some kind of trivia quiz, scavenger hunt or homeschooling assignment in progress. Otherwise it&#8217;s all too oddly coincidental to contemplate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I am going to provide an answer as a public service. Regular readers of Twelve Mile Circle should feel free to check back in a couple of days. This will all be old-hat for you. Thus, I dedicate today\u2019s post to all the random students and lurkers seeking easy answers through search engines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Clarification<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, the original question is wrong. The answer isn\u2019t 13. I can see how it happened. There\u2019s a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/states-split-into-two-time-zones-4072169\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reputable source providing the incorrect information<\/a> and it currently comes up on the first page of a Google search. That doesn\u2019t make it accurate, though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You will need to explain to your quiz master, hunt organizer and\/or school teacher that time zones actually split 14 states in the United State. But try to be delicate. Authority figures don\u2019t like to be shown up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nationalmap.gov\/small_scale\/printable\/timezones.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/graphics\/blog\/q5j8967.gif\" alt=\"Standard Time Zones in the United States\" width=\"604\" height=\"461\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s quickly review the correct information by consulting the authoritative primary source. The Federal government determines time zone boundaries in the United States. Conveniently, it provides a comprehensive listing of time zones and boundaries in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/cfr\/text\/49\/part-71\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Title 49 of the United States Code, Subtitle A, Part 71<\/a>. States can decide whether to recognize Daylight Saving Time or not, but they cannot change the boundaries. This section of the United States Code is definitive so it provides the answer readily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Details<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This list provides the 14 (fourteen!) states within the United States separated by a time zone boundary:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><b>Alaska<\/b>: Hawaii-Aleutian Time (Aleutian Islands west of 169\u00b0 30\u2019 west) and Alaskan Time<\/li><li><b>Florida<\/b>: Central Time (western panhandle) and Eastern Time<\/li><li><b>Idaho<\/b>: Pacific Time (northern panhandle) and Mountain Time<\/li><li><b>Indiana<\/b>: Central Time and Eastern Time<\/li><li><b>Kansas<\/b>: Mountain Time (a small western notch) and Central Time<\/li><li><b>Kentucky<\/b>: Central Time and Eastern Time<\/li><li><b>Michigan<\/b>: Central Time (a small portion of the Upper Peninsula bordering Wisconsin) and Eastern Time<\/li><li><b>Nebraska<\/b>: Mountain Time and Central Time<\/li><li><b>Nevada<\/b>: Pacific Time and Mountain Time (just barely \u2013 <a href=\"\/blog\/?p=811\">see my West Wendover page<\/a>). <em>This is the state that other source misses!<\/em><\/li><li><b>North Dakota<\/b>: Mountain Time and Central Time<\/li><li><b>South Dakota<\/b>: Mountain Time and Central Time<\/li><li><b>Oregon<\/b>: Pacific Time and Mountain Time (an eastern bite)<\/li><li><b>Tennessee<\/b>: Central Time and Eastern Time<\/li><li><b>Texas<\/b>: Mountain Time (far western portion including El Paso) and Central Time<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>In some instances there are towns that recognize time zones unofficially. Phenix City, Alabama is a suburb of Columbus, Georgia so it follows Eastern Time informally to align with its larger neighbor. Kenton, Oklahoma (on the far western edge of the panhandle) recognizes Mountain Time informally to align with its New Mexico neighbors three miles away and its Colorado neighbors six miles away. However these are not legal designations. Therefore, neither Alabama nor Oklahoma can be described as being split by a time zone in a proper sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now back to our regular programming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I keep getting hits on my website looking for the list of &#8220;13 states split by time zones.&#8221; There must be some kind of trivia quiz, scavenger hunt or homeschooling assignment in progress. Otherwise it&#8217;s all too oddly coincidental to contemplate. So I am going to provide an answer as a public service. Regular readers [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,21],"tags":[1164,72,1163,698,1193],"class_list":["post-1240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government","category-states","tag-mountain-time","tag-nevada","tag-pacific-time","tag-time-zones","tag-wendover"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>13 (No, 14!) of the United States are Split by Time Zones - Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A popular source lists 13 U.S. states split by time zones. However, 12MC proves the correct answer is actually 14.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/states-split-time-zone\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"13 (No, 14!) of the United States are Split by Time Zones - Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A popular source lists 13 U.S. states split by time zones. However, 12MC proves the correct answer is actually 14.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/states-split-time-zone\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-04-24T23:21:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-05-19T14:48:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/graphics\/blog\/q5j8967.gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Twelve Mile Circle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@TheReal12MC\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@TheReal12MC\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Twelve Mile Circle\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/states-split-time-zone\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/states-split-time-zone\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Twelve Mile Circle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9d80a5a18ef467b299e8ca0ed890ba1e\"},\"headline\":\"13 (No, 14!) of the United States are Split by Time Zones\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-04-24T23:21:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-19T14:48:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/states-split-time-zone\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":512,\"commentCount\":14,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9d80a5a18ef467b299e8ca0ed890ba1e\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/states-split-time-zone\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/graphics\\\/blog\\\/q5j8967.gif\",\"keywords\":[\"Mountain Time\",\"Nevada\",\"Pacific Time\",\"Time Zones\",\"Wendover\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Government\",\"U.S. States\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/states-split-time-zone\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/states-split-time-zone\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/states-split-time-zone\\\/\",\"name\":\"13 (No, 14!) of the United States are Split by Time Zones - Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/states-split-time-zone\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/states-split-time-zone\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/graphics\\\/blog\\\/q5j8967.gif\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-04-24T23:21:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-19T14:48:09+00:00\",\"description\":\"A popular source lists 13 U.S. states split by time zones. However, 12MC proves the correct answer is actually 14.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/states-split-time-zone\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/states-split-time-zone\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/states-split-time-zone\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/graphics\\\/blog\\\/q5j8967.gif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/graphics\\\/blog\\\/q5j8967.gif\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/states-split-time-zone\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"13 (No, 14!) of the United States are Split by Time Zones\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places\",\"description\":\"(scroll down if article doesn&#039;t appear)\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9d80a5a18ef467b299e8ca0ed890ba1e\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9d80a5a18ef467b299e8ca0ed890ba1e\",\"name\":\"Twelve Mile Circle\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/cropped-1862map_for_blog_header-1.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/cropped-1862map_for_blog_header-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/cropped-1862map_for_blog_header-1.jpg\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"Twelve Mile Circle\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/cropped-1862map_for_blog_header-1.jpg\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.twelvemilecircle.com\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/TheReal12MC\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/tom\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"13 (No, 14!) of the United States are Split by Time Zones - Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places","description":"A popular source lists 13 U.S. states split by time zones. However, 12MC proves the correct answer is actually 14.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/states-split-time-zone\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"13 (No, 14!) of the United States are Split by Time Zones - Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places","og_description":"A popular source lists 13 U.S. states split by time zones. However, 12MC proves the correct answer is actually 14.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/states-split-time-zone\/","og_site_name":"Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places","article_published_time":"2009-04-24T23:21:26+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-05-19T14:48:09+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/graphics\/blog\/q5j8967.gif","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Twelve Mile Circle","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@TheReal12MC","twitter_site":"@TheReal12MC","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Twelve Mile Circle","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/states-split-time-zone\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/states-split-time-zone\/"},"author":{"name":"Twelve Mile Circle","@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9d80a5a18ef467b299e8ca0ed890ba1e"},"headline":"13 (No, 14!) of the United States are Split by Time Zones","datePublished":"2009-04-24T23:21:26+00:00","dateModified":"2021-05-19T14:48:09+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/states-split-time-zone\/"},"wordCount":512,"commentCount":14,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9d80a5a18ef467b299e8ca0ed890ba1e"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/states-split-time-zone\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/graphics\/blog\/q5j8967.gif","keywords":["Mountain Time","Nevada","Pacific Time","Time Zones","Wendover"],"articleSection":["Government","U.S. States"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/states-split-time-zone\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/states-split-time-zone\/","url":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/states-split-time-zone\/","name":"13 (No, 14!) of the United States are Split by Time Zones - Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/states-split-time-zone\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/states-split-time-zone\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/graphics\/blog\/q5j8967.gif","datePublished":"2009-04-24T23:21:26+00:00","dateModified":"2021-05-19T14:48:09+00:00","description":"A popular source lists 13 U.S. states split by time zones. However, 12MC proves the correct answer is actually 14.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/states-split-time-zone\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/states-split-time-zone\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/states-split-time-zone\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/graphics\/blog\/q5j8967.gif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/graphics\/blog\/q5j8967.gif"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/states-split-time-zone\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"13 (No, 14!) of the United States are Split by Time Zones"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/","name":"Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places","description":"(scroll down if article doesn&#039;t appear)","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9d80a5a18ef467b299e8ca0ed890ba1e"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9d80a5a18ef467b299e8ca0ed890ba1e","name":"Twelve Mile Circle","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/cropped-1862map_for_blog_header-1.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/cropped-1862map_for_blog_header-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/cropped-1862map_for_blog_header-1.jpg","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Twelve Mile Circle"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/cropped-1862map_for_blog_header-1.jpg"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.twelvemilecircle.com\/","https:\/\/x.com\/TheReal12MC"],"url":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/author\/tom\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1240"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25910,"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1240\/revisions\/25910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}