How to Change Time Zone on WordPress

When you are first setting up your WordPress site, there are a number of factors to consider. Aside from the hosting, domain, and DNS stuff, there are a lot of settings in WordPress concerning how you will be writing, how your theme will be set up, and how your visitors will see the various elements of the site.

One thing that you may not have considered is that the time zone for your WordPress site is important. It may not seem like it at first, but if you plan to schedule posts, or if there are time elements for your posts or comments, then accurate timestamps can be important. Fortunately it is possible to change the time zone on WordPress if the current setting is not correct.

How to Find and Change the Time Zone in WordPress

The steps in this article were performed on a site using WordPress 5.1 (the self-hosted version of WordPress, not WordPress.com), but this setting has been in the same location for several different versions of WordPress. Note that the time zone options are separated by country and/or city, so you will need to select one that is close to your actual location, or is close to the location for the time zone that you wish to use.

Step 1: Sign into your WordPress site’s admin dashboard.

Step 2: Hover over Settings in the left column, then choose the General option.

Step 3: Scroll down and click the dropdown menu to the right of Timezone, then select a city that is in the same time zone you are.

Step 4: Click the Save Changes button at the bottom of the menu.

Does the dashboard in your admin panel seem cluttered? Find out how to customize the WordPress dashboard and add and remove different sections for the various services and plugins that you use.