Which North American country has the most time zones?

The United States is the North American country with the most time zones, counting its states and territories. Its territory spans 11 time zones, from UTC−11 in American Samoa to UTC+12 on Wake Island.

The large spread comes mainly from the country’s geographical reach across the mainland, Alaska, Hawaii, and Pacific and Caribbean territories. The contiguous United States uses four principal zones: Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific. Alaska and Hawaii add two more, while territories such as Puerto Rico, Guam, and American Samoa use additional zones.

A common mix-up is counting only the 50 states, or only the contiguous states. Under those narrower definitions, the total is smaller. The United States was originally divided into four standard railroad time zones in 1883, a system created to replace confusing local “sun times.”