Time in Rhode Island

{{Short description|Time zone data for this US state}}

Time in Rhode Island, as in all US states, is regulated by the United States Department of Transportation.{{cite web |title=Uniform Time |url=https://www.transportation.gov/regulations/time-act |publisher=US Department of Transportation |accessdate=24 August 2018 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180824041248/https://www.transportation.gov/regulations/time-act |archivedate=24 August 2018 |url-status=live |language=en |date=13 February 2015 |quote=The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) oversees the Nation's time zones and the uniform observance of Daylight Saving Time. The oversight of time zones was assigned to DOT because time standards are important for many modes of transportation.}} Rhode Island is in the Eastern Time Zone (ET) and observes daylight saving time (DST).

class="wikitable" style="text-align:left;" |+Time in Rhode Island
|| Time || UTC
Standard time (winter)	Eastern Standard Time (EST)	UTC−05:00
Daylight time (summer)	Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)	UTC−04:00

Independent of daylight saving time, solar noon in Rhode Island on the March equinox is about 11:53, which is earlier than most areas of the United States. The state is small enough that geographical location only results in a difference of a few minutes.

File:US-Timezones-post-2007.png

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" |+ Solar noon (independent of DST){{cite web |url=https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/grad/solcalc/ |title=NOAA Solar Calculator |website=noaa.gov |accessdate=March 9, 2019}}
rowspan=2|Date (approx.)	colspan=3|Location
Westerly	Providence	Little Compton
March equinox	11:54	11:52	11:52
June solstice	11:49	11:47	11:46
September equinox	11:40	11:39	11:38
December solstice	11:45	11:44	11:43

Like the other five New England states, which also use the Eastern Time Zone, sunset in the winter in Rhode Island can occur as early as 4:30 p.m. Most of the New England states have considered using the Atlantic Time Zone without daylight saving to mitigate this. While Rhode Island considered such a bill in 2016,{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29334359/will_new_england_see_the_light/ |title=Will New England see the light |first=Matt |last=O'Brien |agency=AP |newspaper=The Burlington Free Press |location=Burlington, Vermont |page=C7 |date=March 11, 2016 |accessdate=March 9, 2019 |via=newspapers.com}} it would only take effect if Massachusetts did the same.{{cite news | title=Several US States Considering Scrapping DST | publisher=Time and Date | date=January 20, 2017 | url=https://www.timeanddate.com/news/time/usa-states-no-dst.html}}