To find how long until 12 AM, subtract the current time from 24:00: at 9:30 PM (21:30), midnight is 2 hours 30 minutes away. The countdown does that sum every second in your time zone, and it can also count down to 5:00 PM or any other time.
Time left until midnight
--h--m--s
Midnight is 12:00 AM, the moment today ends and tomorrow begins.
Decimal hours
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Total minutes
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Total seconds
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Time zone: your device's time zone
Today on a 24-hour dial
Gone today
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Left until midnight
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Tomorrow until the target
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The dial splits 360 degrees into 24 hours, so each hour covers 15 degrees and each minute a quarter of a degree. The hand shows the current time in your time zone.
How long until 12 AM tonight?
Midnight is 24:00 on the 24-hour clock, so the time until 12 AM is 24:00 minus the time now. Writing midnight as 23:60 lets the minutes subtract without borrowing.
Convert the time to the 24-hour clock: 6:47 PM becomes 18:47.
Subtract it from 23:60: 23:60 − 18:47 = 5:13.
Read the answer: midnight is 5 hours 13 minutes away, or 5 × 60 + 13 = 313 minutes.
With seconds, use 23:59:60. At 6:47:27 PM, 23:59:60 − 18:47:27 = 5:12:33.
Time now
24-hour clock
Time left until midnight
Minutes left
Seconds left
6:00 AM
06:00
18 h 0 m
1,080
64,800
12:00 PM (noon)
12:00
12 h 0 m
720
43,200
3:15 PM
15:15
8 h 45 m
525
31,500
6:47 PM
18:47
5 h 13 m
313
18,780
9:30 PM
21:30
2 h 30 m
150
9,000
11:45 PM
23:45
0 h 15 m
15
900
11:59 PM
23:59
0 h 1 m
1
60
For a span that ends somewhere other than midnight, such as a night shift from 4:00 PM to 12:30 AM, the time duration calculator measures it directly.
How many seconds until tomorrow?
A day holds 86,400 seconds (24 × 60 × 60), so the seconds left are 86,400 minus the seconds since midnight. At 6:47:27 PM, 64,800 + 2,820 + 27 = 67,647 seconds have passed, which leaves 18,753 seconds until tomorrow.
Minutes work the same way with 1,440 in a day. At 6:47 PM, 1,127 minutes have passed, so 313 minutes remain.
How long until 12:00: noon or midnight?
A 12-hour clock shows 12:00 twice a day, as 12:00 AM at midnight and 12:00 PM at noon, so “how long until 12:00” has two answers. The countdown aims at the midnight that ends today, which falls on tomorrow’s date. For noon, choose Another time and enter 12:00 PM.
Deadlines share the problem: a form “due at midnight Friday” could mean the start or the end of Friday. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recommends writing 11:59 PM Friday in its place.
Count down to 5 PM or any other time
At 9:15 AM, 5:00 PM is 7 hours 45 minutes away. Once a target time has passed for today, the countdown moves to the same time tomorrow.
How long until midnight on a daylight saving time day?
Twice a year the local day is not 24 hours long. On the March change day it lasts 23 hours, and on the November change day 25 hours, so the time until midnight can differ from the clock gap by 1 hour. The countdown measures real elapsed time, so it stays right on both days.
Date (New York time)
Clock reads
Real time until midnight
Why
March 8, 2026
1:00 AM
22 hours
The hour from 2:00 AM to 3:00 AM is skipped
November 1, 2026
12:30 AM
24 hours 30 minutes
The hour from 1:00 AM to 2:00 AM repeats
November 1, 2026
10:00 AM
14 hours
The change has already happened
Once the change has happened, the time left matches the clock again. The next clock change page has the dates for this year and the next few.
Frequently asked questions
How many minutes until 12 AM from 8 PM?
Midnight is 240 minutes after 8:00 PM: 4 hours × 60 minutes, or 14,400 seconds.
Is midnight the start or the end of a day?
It is the start: 12:00 AM opens the new date and is written 00:00. NIST adds that 24:00 may be used for the same instant seen as the end of the day before.
Does the countdown use my time zone?
Yes. It reads the clock and time zone of the device you are using and names that zone with the result. A device clock that runs fast or slow moves the countdown by the same amount; time.gov shows the official U.S. time.